By BARBARA JOHNSTON
When I decided
to write an essay on the history of Cairo, I knew right where to look for
information - our attic! It's full of the histories of my family and Cairo
starting from the first.
To begin with, my great great grandfather,
Sanford Bennett, and his wife, Katherine McCallum Bennett (from Inverness,
Scotland) came to Cairo in 1866. Two years later my great great grandfather,
Alexander Johnston, and his wife, Katherine Stuart Johnston, came from
Edinburg, Scotland to settle in Cairo. The original deeds to property here
are still in our attic. They state that Alexander bought lots from a John
Able in 1872. John Able had first purchased them in May of 1865 from Samuel
Staats Taylor and Edwin Parsons, the Trustees of the Cairo City Property.
The taxes on these two lots for 1873 were a grand total of $20.00. The tax
statements and the deeds to the other three lots he purchased are still
intact after about ninety-five years.
Alexander worked as an
engineer for Green and Wood Mill Co., later to become Wood and Bennett. His
son, William James Johnston, married Mamie Bennett, whose father was
associated with Wood and Bennett. This was a wholesale grocery company in
Cairo - one of the pioneer firms. W. J. and Mamie were my great grandfather
and great grandmother. He became president of Woodward Hardware in 1902.
This was an important and widely known business of Cairo at that time and
for many years afterward. He was elected City Park Commissioner under Mayor
Parsons and had the beautiful hard maple trees planted all along Washington
Avenue. These trees are a famous part of Cairo even today. I don't remember
my great grandparents, but I do remember my two great great aunts very well.
Frances Bennett, Sanford and Kate's daughter, was born February 8th,
1872. Aunt Frances (who didn't want us to call her Great Great Aunt) was a
member of the First Presbyterian Church for over seventy-five years where
she amazed me and many other people by never having to use a hymnal for
either the songs or the responsive readings! She graduated from Safford
School, my grade school but her high school, as valedictorian of the class
of 1890. Her best friend, Effie Lansden, was salutatorian of this same
class. This was the 15th high school commencement held in Cairo.
Aunt Frances taught in the Cairo public schools for over fifty years, was a
charter member of the Cairo Business and Professional Women's Club, and also
was one of their first directors. She passed away in 1963 lacking just four
months of being ninety-two. She seemed just as active in her later years as
she was when she was younger. She was always a dignified lady and when she
died, it seemed as if it was the end of an era.
My other great great
aunt, Mary Johnston, was just as amazing. Her parents were Alexander and
Kate Johnston. She was born in 1864. When she was four, her family moved to
Cairo. When she was fourteen, they moved into the home where she lived for
over seventy-five years. She was very active in the First Presbyterian
Church and was assistant treasurer to the Woodward Hardware Company.
Although she wasn't as lively in later years as Aunt Frances, she lived to
be ninety-six lacking only two months of being ninety-seven.
The
house my family and I live in was built fifty-three years ago by W. J.
Johnston and his son, Hugh R. Johnston Sr., who was also in Woodward
Hardware and Cairo Hardware. He was a charter member of the Kiwanis Club and
a past president of it. He was also in the Cairo Association of Commerce and
other civic bodies.
My grandmother, Betty Johnston, was the daughter
of Dr. and Mrs. C. C. Eldred of Joliet, Illinois. She lived in our present
home since 1916 after coming here as a bride. She was active in the Red
Cross for twenty-two years, a job she took after her husband, Hugh Sr., died
in 1939. When she passed away in 1964, it was a great loss to all of us as
well as to the town.
I have lived here in this house, in this town all my life and so have most of my ancestors for the last 100 years. I appreciate my heritage and am very proud of it and Cairo.
By JAN
KNIFFEN
A dull thud was the unspectacular herald of the
reincarnation of the U. S. S. Cairo, the seventh in a series of city class
ironclads designed by James Buchanan Eads for the Union during the Civil
War.
The muffled thud was the result of an iron bar about twenty
feet long meeting the steel roof of the old warriors pilot house. This iron
bar was held by one of three explorers - Edwin C. Bearss. Warren Grabau, or
Don Jacks - who were moored near the left bank (facing downstream) of the
Yazoo River.
This final discovery in 1956 was to be the beginning of
a new life for a ship that had been a hard luck vessel from the day she was
built. Her construction had taken place at Mound City, Ill., which is about
twelve miles from Cairo, whose name she bears.
The ill-fated
ironclad "Cairo" received her commission at Cairo January 15, 1862, and saw
her first action at Eastport, Miss., April 1, 1862. She then joined the
small fleet flotilla of the Mississippi squadron above Vicksburg, December
8, 1862, and this was the harbinger of the "Cairo's" destruction.
On
that fateful day, the 12th, the "Cairo," the "Pittsburgh," and the tinclads
"Marmora" and "Signal," and the Ellet ram, "Queen of the West," had been
ordered up the Yazoo to research enemy positions and clear the area of
torpedos (mines).
By eleven A. M. the "Marmora" had overhauled a
skiff containing two men, a white and a negro. The former was Jonathan
Williams. Williams reluctantly admitted full knowledge of the torpedoes'
locations. After Getty, commander of the "Marmora," had wrung him dry,
Williams was cast into irons. So much for the rights of civilians.
The fleet was proceeding onward when musket fire was heard by Selfridge, the
"Cairo's" commander. Thinking the "Mormora" was under sniper fire, he
hastened to throw the big ironclad into the fray. As the grim fund of
firepower drew abreast of the little sternwheeler, Selfridge hailed Getty,
demand to know why he had stopped. Getty answered, "Here is where the
torpedoes are."
Selfridge ordered the "Marmora" to lower her cutter
and investigate the object before her. An ensign aboard the cutter severed a
line leading to the bank, and a second object bobbed into view and was
destroyed.
Selfridge annoyed at the delay, now ordered the little
"Marmora" forward. The "Marmora" hesitated to do so, and Selfridge became
impatient. He again ordered Getty ahead, and started his own ship forward.
Her wheel had made scarcely six revolutions when the two explosions in quick
succession shook the area. One torpedo had exploded off the ironclad's port
while the second had been directly beneath the bow.
Within several
minutes, the water was cascading over her forecastle, and her only hope was
to beach. The tenacious little river wasn't to be denied, however, the
Yazoo's current swung the stern of the vessel downstream and brought the
full weight of the ironclad against the hawser. The cable tightened and
snapped like a guitar string as the majestic "Cairo" disappeared beneath
twelve fathoms of water.
The smokestacks and flagstaffs, the only
visible features of the old warrior, were removed and her location forgotten
over the years.
She rested peacefully on the floor of the Yazoo for
94 years when that fateful iron rod struck her hull. After this pinpointing
in '56, salvage operations were planned, and in 1964 her rebirth was made
possible by Bisso and Company, a salvage crew.
During the operations
to lift the "Cairo," cables were slipped under it, and once the entire ship
broke the surface of the water. But, the Yazoo was destined to hold its
prize a while longer; the cables sliced through the hull and severed the
ship in three pieces. The three separate pieces were then raised on barges,
and the Yazoo lost its entombed protectorate.
The "Cairo" is now at
Vicksburg, swiftly becoming a tourist attraction and a unique musuem. The
"Cairo" shall live on now - a symbol of the power of a nation and the unity
of the United States of America.
By ROSE KOE
Riverlore, a stately white mansion, was built at the
beginning of an extravagant era. It was 1865; the Civil War was over.
Reconstruction was beginning and Cairo was a mushrooming river town. The
house was built by river-loving Captain William Parker Halliday to match the
coming lavishness, the prosperity that was around the corner and the promise
that was Cairo.
Even though Captain Halliday apparently built this
beautiful home with the idea of settling down and becoming a substantial
business man, at heart he obviously remained a steamboat captain. Winding
from the third floor to the roof is a ship's stair. From the roof, Captain
Halliday could look out over the city, and before the trees and homes sprang
up to interrupt his view, could see his beloved rivers the Ohio and the
Mississippi.
In November, 1900, Riverlore became the residence of
Dr. John J. Rendleman, a practicing physician and surgeon for 67 years and
Mrs. Rendleman, both of whom preserved and improved the house and grounds
throughout the years. Their youngest daughter and her husband, Mr. and Mrs.
Frederick J. Grieve, are the present owners and residents of Riverlore.
High above the river, in the finest residential part of Cairo, stands
Riverlore, a 3-story, 11-room residence of solid brick, with stone
foundation and full basement. Although there are but 11 rooms, each of them,
from the first floor to the third, is high-ceilinged and spacious.
Riverlore's garden setting of 3/4 of an acre is landscaped with magnolias,
flowering shrubs. Red brick walks of herringbone pattern surround the house.
Charming accessories to this beautiful house are a fountain, a sundial, and
a handsome weathervane atop the grape-arbor. This white painted Victorian
has a slate mansard roof capped by ornamental iron railing. The roof is
covered with slate set in geometric patterns.
Entrance into the
house is through double doors elaborately carved. An old English hall clock
in the entrance hall, which was bought in 1903, tells the phases of the
moon. It has 2 sets of chimes, Westminster and Whittington.
Rooms of
graceful design offer a charming environment and a good French type
architectural plan. Characteristic of "the golden era" the luxury features
of the house include ornate plaster moldings and ceiling medalions
(cartouches), floor length windows, dormer windows, carved woodwork and tall
doors of yellow poplar, stained glass and large elaborate mirrors, period
chandeliers, and fireplaces decorated with ornamental ceramic tiles. A
modern kitchen has a scenic mural of the Mississippi River.
The
solid brick walls on the outside of the house are about 20" thick; brick
partitions in the house are 12" thick. The hardwood floors ore laid over
fire-resistant concrete.
Lying on the parlor floor is a beautiful
rug that has the American motives, such as the Statue of Liberty, Wright
airplane, Liberty Bell, Mayflower, Panama Canal, and the covered wagon. The
parlor also has a fireplace, a large mirror on the mantle, ornamental
plaster cornice, lovely stained glass, and a brass period chandelier. On the
walls are the exquisite hand wrought lace fans which Mrs. Grieve brought
back from Belgium and France.
The library is equipped with a
built-in leaded glass door bookcase, and a large picture window with art
glass fanlights. The door which leads to conservatory is a prize winning
beveled leaded glass panel that was exhibited at the St. Louis World's Fair
in 1904.
The fireplace in the dining room has tiles depicting the 3
graces (mythological people). In this room is also a very handsome mirror
which was the mate to the mirror in the lobby of the historic Halliday
Hotel.
A wide oval cantilever stairway with a carved mahogany
balustrade and 5 wall niches winds from the first floor hall to the "pilot
house" on the roof some 40 feet above. An ornamental iron railing crowns the
flat mansard roof. The third contains a small and complete theatre with a
jewel of a stage, backdrops, curtains and footlights, a proscenium arch, and
an auditorium to seat 50 people. The walls of the auditorium are decorated
with the original French wallpaper with stylized figures to depict the four
seasons.
This proud 100 year old manor house retains the dignified
charm which is enhanced by painstaking care and skillful modernization And
though the house which was once gay with receptions and parties is rather
quiet now, in it are kept the gracious ways of living which stamp the flavor
of southern hospitality.
By ROSE KOE
Had almost everything else in the city been made to
correspond with the Halliday Hotel, Cairo would have been a fine city of
fifty to one hundred thousand people. If Cairo could "grow twenty feet high
and swell out in proportion," in the language of Dickens, so as to
correspond with the hotel, the Illinois Central Railroad bridge would be at
the center of the city instead of being on its north boundary.
The
Halliday Hotel, second and Ohio Streets, was a five-story L-shaped structure
with stone quoins, an ornate cupola, and a mansard-like roof from which
project dormer windows. Excepting the south half on Ohio Street,
construction of this building began in the summer of 1857. Thirty tons of
slate for its roof were lost on February 4, 1858, when the Colonel Crosman
burst a boiler near New Madrid, Mo., and sank with twelve passengers aboard.
A second set-back came in June, 1858, when a flood undermined the nearly
completed building and caused parts of the walls to collapse.
Despite these reverses the structure was completed in 1859 and opened in
January of that year as the St. Charles Hotel. It was conducted by different
persons from time to time, under leases from its owners; and like almost
everything else in Cairo, had a somewhat varied experience especially after
"the war" closed. During "the war" its business was up to its full capacity
all the time. Its name was changed to "The Halliday" and opened under the
new management July 1, 1881. Of the hostelry the Guide Americana published
in Paris, France, 1859, said that it was one "which would honor the finest
cities of the world."
The Halliday was on a par with the best hotels
in cities like St. Louis and Chicago, and under the management of Mr. L. P.
Parker had done perhaps more than any single establishment or agency to
sustain the claim of Cairo to Metropolitan proportions and importance.
Admirably situated, apart from other buildings, it could afford at one
glance a view of three states and of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers at
their point of meeting to form the mightiest waterway of the continent.
Looking north the Ohio presents a great semicircle visible for seven miles,
spanned at northern limits of the city by the Illinois Central railway
bridge, one of the beautiful and perfect examples of civil engineering in
the United States. Southernly the sweep of waters of the two great rivers is
visible for ten miles, presenting a view that has no parallel on this
continent.
In front was a beautiful little park affording a
promenade, beneath the shade of whose trees, among birds and flowers, guests
may sit at will in the spring, summer and fall months fanned by a cooling
breeze, and watch the tide of commerce as it ebbs and flows on the bosom of
"La Belle Ohio."
The hotel had commodious and handsomely equipped
offices, large well lighted and perfectly furnished dining room and elegant
and luxurious parlors. These were supplemented in every detail by modern
appointments, first-class accommodations, agreeable surroundings,
exceptional table service and perfect cuisine. So true was this that the
Halliday was as well and favorably known to the public as any on the line of
travel between Chicago and New Orleans.
Clean, elegantly furnished
and perfectly lighted guest rooms, commodious writing and reading rooms,
prompt service and that courteous treatment in the absence of which guests
were never satisfied, were a few of the things which have won fame for the
Halliday and a reputation as a hotel man for Mr. Parker.
An artesian
well, 824 feet in depth, on the premises, supplied the hotel with an
abundance of perfectly pure table water, as well as for other uses, such as
laundry, kitchen and the bath. It was very palatable, of exceptional purity,
as shown by chemical analysis, and highly recommended by capable physicians
as a remedial agent in kidney and bladder troubles, many permanent cures
having been effected from its use. The hotel was equipped with its own
refrigerating and ice plant.
When Cairo became an army depot in
1861, a war correspondent for Harper's weekly reported that "the officers .
. . - occupy the hotel from cellar to garret." Most important of its notable
wartime guests was General Ulysses Simpson Grant who occupied Room 215. From
the window at the south of this chamber the General could look on to Fort
Defiance and the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi. This view had been
obstructed by an addition made to the hotel in 1908. The furnishings of Room
215 remained as they were when Grant lodged there.
On the walls of
the hotel lobby were pictures of Fort Defiance, Civil War, Cairo, gunboats
of the Western Flotilla, and a photograph of General Grant and McClernand
posed with fellow officers before the old post office at Sixth and
Commercial Avenue. The taproom of the hotel contained a bar manufactured in
1859, known as "Grant's bar."
In the cellar of the hotel, under the
east sidewalk, were 8 dungeon-like chambers which, according to a tradition
sustained by hotel employees, were used to conceal fugitive slaves and later
to quarter captured confederate troops. Research fails to substantiate
either of these claims.
When the Halliday Hotel burned, it was a
tremendous loss to the city of Cairo. Since it was one of the most historic
sites, it has often been referred to as "the last great hotel of the period
on the Mississippi River."
Today, only the most recently built part,
"the annex" remains standing, its windows boarded up, looking sightlessly
over the levee walls.
By JIM
MORELAND
The old county courthouse at Thebes has acted as the county
seat of Alexander county, a meeting hall for clubs, a library, and a polling
place. At the present, it is being used as a tourist attraction in the form
of a museum. Before I tell you about the museum, I shall give you a brief
account of the history.
The county record books show that on
February 26, 1845, George Sparhawk deeded sufficient land for a courthouse
and buildings with consideration of locating the county set in Thebes,
Illinois.
In September 1845, L. L. Lightner was appointed to draw
plans and ascertain probable cost of a courthouse at Thebes. In December he
was appointed agent for the erection of the building.
The first term
of court was held in 1845 under a big elm tree with the courthouse being
built the following year. In January, 1846, Lightener entered into a
contract with Arnst Barkhausen for the erection of the building.
Frank Planert of Council, Idaho, was a great-grandson of the builder of the
courthouse at Unity, Illinois, in 1842.
From Frank Planert came the
following:
"The old courthouse at Thebes was built about 1844-1845.
The architect was John Christian Henry Barkhausen, who planned and
supervised the building. The outside plaster, after approximately one
hundred years, shows little deterioration.
The price, as I was
informed, by the son of the architect and builder, was $4,400.00."
From March 1848 to September 1854, the records show only payments of
indebtedness on building and for various repairs. In September 1854,
Lightner was ordered to secure plans for putting up Judges seats, bar, jury
boxes, and a flight of steps from the road to the west door.
In
March of 1860, the city council of Cairo offered the use of its city jail to
be used as the county jail, and recorded fifteen chosen lots in block 48 for
a proposed courthouse.
One prisoner of the Thebes courthouse was
Dred Scott, a negro who made his flight to freedom in 1856. He escaped from
the jail, traveled cross land to Jonesboro, and boarded an Illinois Central
Railroad train.
In June 1860, the commissioners ordered William Yost
to call on S. Staats Taylor for the lots chosen. He also accepted the offer
of the city courtrooms to be used as a temporary courtroom.
This
brought an end to a colorful period of history in the justice of Alexander
county. It had all started in America, Ill., where the first county seat had
been set up in the home of William Alexander in 1818. In 1831, the America
courthouse was finally finished. Then in 1833, the county seat was moved to
Unity, due to its more central location in the county. The Unity courthouse
was finished in 1837. On March 2, 1843, the separation of Pulaski and
Alexander counties was achieved. The county seat at Unity remained in
Alexander county. Due to a fire that destroyed nearly all of the courthouse
and its records in 1842, the county seat was moved to Thebes in March of
1845.
At present Alexander county courthouse is at Cairo. Since
Cairo sent most of the prisoners to be tried at Thebes, the courthouse was
moved to Cairo in 1860.
With the backing of the Thebes Woman's Club,
Men's Club, and Town Board, the people of Thebes set out to make a museum
out of the old county seat in 1966. Mrs. Leland Shafer, leader of Thebes
Woman's Club, and Raymond Baugher, leader of the Men's Club, were the two
main leaders in starting the project of making the courthouse a museum. Mrs.
Shafer gathered as much information for historical purposes as she could.
Documents and relics were hard to come by, for mostly only legends and
family stories remained.
Due to the aid of the Green Finger project
in the state of Illinois, under the Nelson Amendment, the task of
restoration of the museum has been lightened somewhat. The main problem that
holds back this project is finances. So far, with the help of the Youth
Corp, the museum has been opened in the summer months. Through the youth and
help of Green Finger, the area has been cleared of brush and trees, making
it possible to set up a 7-acre park there. They have also repaired windows,
restored original fire-places, and repaired a walk that leads from the top
of the hill to the base.
Tom Booker, Associate Farm Advisor, said
that the reason so much was being put into making the courthouse a museum
was, "... the people of Thebes want the job and are willing to work for it,
which is an important step in getting the job done."
The courthouse
is open each afternoon and all day Saturday and Sunday. Mrs. Shafer reports
that about 1,200 persons toured the building this summer, with no road sign.
A sign has been designed and will soon be set in place on highway 3 at the
Thebes Spur.
By DEBORAH MORGAN
Captain John R. Thomas, our congressman in 1882, enacted a law
appropriating sixty thousand dollars for the purchase of grounds and the
erection of buildings for the United States Marine Hospital. In September of
that year, Surgeon General Hamilton came to Cairo and he, together with Mr.
George Fisher, the surveyor of the port, and General C. W. Pavey, the
collector of internal revenue, looked over the city to choose a site for the
hospital. The site was not definitely decided on until some time in 1883,
when the present grounds between Tenth and Twelfth Streets and Cedar Street
and Jefferson Avenue were chosen and purchased from the Trustees of the
Cairo Trust Property for the sum of fourteen thousand dollars. The grounds
included seventy-two lots. The buildings are now practically the same as
they were when they were erected. Although it was finished in 1885, it was
not formally opened until some time in February of 1886 at its dedication.
The United States Government built the United States Marine
Hospital, as its name implies, for caring and nursing of sick and invalid
sailors of our navy, all river men, and those in government service on the
inland waters of the country. Up to this time, these patients were taken
care of by the Sisters of the Holy Cross at St. Mary's Hospital and for a
time the Sisters conducted the new hospital under the supervision of Doctor
Duncan A. Carmichael.
In March of 1915, the Hospital, under the
supervision of Dr. James M. Cassaway, surgeon in charge, began the care of
morphine users, which totaled two hundred. The users had been unable to
obtain the drug since March 1 of that year.
The hospital was closed
in the latter part of 1915 and was moved to Kirkwood, Mo. The patients at
that time were transferred to St. Mary's Hospital.
Today the
buildings and grounds are being used as the Alexander County Tuberculosis
Hospital and the Tri-County Health Department.
From Lansden's
History of Cairo is taken the following list of surgeons and past assistant
surgeons in charge:
Duncan A. Carmichael 1885; James M. Gassaway,
1888-1890: Rell M. Woodward, 1890-1894; Ezra K. Sprague, March-Nov. 1894;
Gassaway, 1894-1897; Parker C. Kallock, 1897-1899; W. A. Sheeler, Jan.-May
1899; H. C. Russell, May-Dec. 1899.
John M. Holt, 1899-1901; James
H. Oakley, 1901-1903; Gregario M. Guiteras, 1903-1907; Julius O. Cobb,
1907-1908; Robert L. Wilson, 1908-1910. Dr. James N. Gassaway, 1915, when
Marine Hospital was closed.
By
DEBORAH MORGAN
She was five foot two, brown-eyed, pug-nosed and the
belle of Cairo, Illinois, when that town numbered nine thousand inhabitants
and fifty saloons. Her name - Isabella Maud Rittenhouse.
Maud, as
she was commonly called, lived in Cairo, a thriving steamboat town on the
Mississippi and Ohio rivers, in the 1880's. At the age of twelve, Maud
started a journal which she kept conscientiously until she was thirty. Later
in her life she burned the first volume but kept the six others that
followed. The six journals were all of the same size and were bound in red
leather. Each volume contained at least 100,000 words; they covered the
years from 1881 to 1895. In her very legible hand she told everything to her
silent confidante. One amazing thing about her journals was that she wrote
them all in purple ink!
This series of six journals was edited and
published in 1939 by her son-in-law, Richard Lee Strout, in the book "Maud",
which became a best seller. The book is an interesting and accurate account
of the life of a well-to-do and well-bred young woman in a small mid-western
town during the 1880's.
In her journals Maud told about her many
love affairs. The young gentlemen of Cairo seemed always to be falling in
love with her, although she led them all a merry chase.
Maud was a
constant theater-goer. She was probably the most excited person in Cairo
when the doors to the Opera House were first opened. She attended the
opening night performance on December 15, 1881. Her love of footlights was
too strong to let her remain just a spectator, and she soon became Cairo's
favorite amateur actress.
In 1884 Maud was accepted at the School of
Fine Arts in St. Louis. While in St. Louis she became a very good artist,
but she was very homesick for "dear ugly Cairo."
Upon returnine to
Cairo she set up her own art studio in the attic of the family's
fifteen-room brick home on Seventh and Walnut Streets. Besides painting in
the studio, she did all her writing there. Not only did she write her
journal, but she also wrote for "Godey's Ladies' Book." She won a literary
prize for a novel (about a place in North Carolina which she had never seen)
called "A Candid Critic."
The hectic and happy days in which Maud
wrote her journal ended when she wrote the last entry in her fourteen-year
journal on June 6, 1895. At that time Maud was preparing to marry an
engineer-turned-physician - Dr. Earl Hugh Mayne. Dr. Mayne had helped with
the construction of the Illinois Central Railroad bridge, which was an
international wonder and the longest bridge in the world when it was built.
After their marriage Dr. and Mrs. Mayne moved to Brooklyn, New York.
They became the parents of three daughters. Maud lived in Brooklyn until her
death on March 8, 1946.
Editor's Note: House purchased by the Cairo
Historical Society in 1968 and is currently in the process of restoration.
Extracted 30 Dec 2017 by Norma Hass from Alexander County Profiles, published in 1968, pages 37-46.
| Cape Girardeau MO |
Union | |
 |
Pulaski | |
| Scott MO | Mississippi MO | Ballard KY |
