Shelby County Tn - History - The Goodspeed Publishing Co., History of Tennessee, 1887
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Part 3

Asbury Church stands on the corner of Hernando and Linden Streets.  It was first
regularly organized in 1843 by Nathan Harcott and John Brown.  Previous to this
time, however, there had been religious services in the vicinity in private
houses, and in John Brown’s carpenter shop, standing on the corner of Hernando
and Vance Streets, fitted up for such services by Mr. and Mrs. Brown.  Upon the
advice of Rev. Moses Brock the lot upon which the present church stands was
purchased.  The first house build upon this lot was exceedingly  primitive, and
a description of it is worthy of preservation: “It was a shanty.  Holes were dug
in the ground, posts set up, and rough planks nailed on the sides.  It was
covered with planks.  Scantling laid on the ground and planks laid on them made
the floor.”  Enlarged a little, the congregation continued to use it as a house
of worship until 1847, when a plain frame building was erected which lasted
until 1882.  This frame building then gave way to a one-story brick Gothic
structure which will seat about 450 people and which cost $15,000.  Following is
a list of the pastors of Asbury Chapel, named after Bishop Asbury, the founder
of Methodism in America, as Wesley Chapel, now the First Methodist Episcopal
Church South, was named after John Wesley, the founder of Methodism in the
world: Revs. Benjamin A. Hayes, commencing in 1843; D. W. Garrard, 1845; L. D.
Mullins, 1846; W. C. Robb, 1847; A. H. Thomas, 1849; S. J. Henderson, 1850;
Joseph H. Brooks, 1852; James W. McFarland, 1853, who died before his year had
expired and was succeeded by B. M. Johnson; J. T. C. Collins, 1854; Philip
Tuggle, 1856; W. H. Leigh, 1857; J. T. Meriwether, 1858; E. E. Hamilton, 1859;
Robert Martin, 1860; Guilford Jones, 1861, who in 1862, not wishing to add to
his experience at Paducah, Ky., with the Federal Army, left for Arkansas, D. J.
Allen filling out his appointment; Guilford Jones, 1865; F. S. Petway, 1867; L.
D. Mullins, 1869; J. H. Evans, 1871; E. E. Hamilton, 1873; J. C. Hooks, 1875;
Guilford Jones, 1877; Warner Moore, 1879; David Leith, 1882; J. M. Spence, 1886.
In 1850 the membership of this church was 235 whites and 43 blacks; in 1854, 153
whites and 104 blacks; in 1865, owing to the war, the membership was very low.
Both church and Sunday-school are now in prosperous condition.



Central Methodist Episcopal Church South was started not long before the war,
their small frame church edifice, at No. 187 Union Street, being dedicated in
1860.  This congregation was organized by the Rev. J. T. C. Collins, and the
building dedicated by Bishop George F. Pierce.  For some time the church was
served by temporary supplies.  The small frame church lasted until 1868, when
the present brick building was begun.  It cost $40,000, will seat 750 people,
and was finished in 1883.  Since 1869 the pastors have been Revs. W. M.
Patterson, 1869; A. L. Pritchett, 1871; P. T. Scruggs, 1873; S. B. Suratt, 1873;
E. C. Slater, D.D., 1874; J. A. Heard, 1875; W. T. Harris, 1877; S. W. Moore,
1879; S. B. Suratt, 1880; J. H. Evans, 1881; R. H. Mahon, 1882, and R. W. Erwin,
1886.



Besides the above Methodist Churches there are two small congregations, one
called the Georgia Street Methodist Episcopal Church South, and the other the
Saffarans Street Methodist Episcopal Church South.  All of the Methodist
Churches in Memphis belong to the Southern connection.  The colored Methodists
have Collins’ Chapel, on Washington and Orleans Streets, and Avery Chapel, on De
Soto Street, the latter being one of the most elegantly finished edifices in
Memphis.



The first Baptist Church was organized April 6, 1839, with eleven members, at
McGeveney’s schoolhouse, standing near where the fountain now is in Court
Square.  The first pastor was Rev. L. H. Milliken, who remained through the
years 1839-41.  During 1842 Rev. Mr. Eager and Rev. B. F. Farnsworth served as
pastor or supply, the latter gentleman resigning in September.  In 1843 Rev. S.
S. Parr was pastor.  In 1845 a lot was purchased on Second Street, between Adams
and Washington Streets, on which there was a small frame building which was
fitted up as a temporary place of worship, and in February, 1846, Rev. P. S.
Gayle was elected pastor, remaining three years.  During his pastorate a church
costing $7,000 was erected, the membership being about 175.  February 14, 1849,
Rev. John Finlay was elected pastor, remaining until 1852, when he was followed
by the Rev. C. R. Hendrickson.  He was succeeded in 1857 by the Rev. T. J.
Drane, who remained until 1862, when Rev. S. H. Ford began preaching and
remained until the occupation of Memphis by the Union Army, June 6, when he left
for the South, and the church building was taken possession of by the military
authorities for hospital purposes, the damage to the church caused by such
occupancy being afterward made good by the United States Government.  In the
spring of 1863 the American Baptist Home Mission Society of Philadelphia advised
the church that unless a minister were secured a preacher would be sent to take
charge of the church, and in order to avoid having a foreign minister, not of
their own choosing, a call was extended to Rev. A. B. Miller, of Owensboro, Ky.,
who became pastor in June, 1863, and remained until January, 1868.  The
subsequent pastors have been the Rev. D. E. Burns, commencing in 1868; Rev. I.
T. Tichnor, April, 1871; Rev. Dr. G. A. Lofton, May, 1872; Rev. R. B. Momack,
1876; Rev. Dr. W. A. Montgomery, 1878, and the present pastor, Rev. R. A.
Venable, October 6, 1880.  The present membership of the church is about 350. R.
G. Craig has been the superintendent of the Sunday-school for twenty-one years.



The Central Baptist Church was organized December 3, 1865, at the First Church,
standing at the corner of Adams and Second Streets.  Before the war the Beale
Street Church and the mission at Fort Pickering were doing the work of the
Baptists, but at its close the Beale Street Church had no pastor, no house of
worship, no regular meetings, and to all appearances had gone to pieces, as was
the case with the Mission at Fort Pickering.  South Memphis was thus without
Baptist services, and the only Baptist Church was in the extreme northern end of
the city.  A considerable number of members of the First Baptist Church,
however, lived toward the south end of the city, and it was inconvenient for
them to attend their own church.  After consulting with old members of the Beale
Street Church, a new organization was effected and named the Central Church,
composed of forty-three members of Beale Street Church and seventy-five of First
Church.  The Beale Street Church conveyed their lot to the new organization, and
the First Church allowed its retiring members $10,000 as their share of the
property.  On December 3, 1865, at a meeting presided over by Rev. S. H. Ford,
D.D., the Central Baptist Church was organized, and Dr. Ford immediately chosen
pastor.  For six months the new church and the First Church used the building of
the First Church on alternate Sundays, and in the meantime the Central Church
leased a lot on Court Street, upon which they erected at a cost of $3,000 a
frame building known as the Tabernacle.  The Tabernacle was used from June 24,
1866, to December, 1868.  In the fall of 1867, the Central Church bought the
ground upon which the present church stands, paying therefore $22,500.  Times
were then prosperous, everybody had plenty of money and was confident of the
future.  An architect was employed whose plan was approved and accepted, and
work on the building commenced, but on account of business depression which was
felt throughout the country from 1868 to 1873, but little could be done except
to complete the basement story of the building containing the lecture room. This
was used first on February 21, 1869, and continued to be used nearly seventeen
years.  The walls of the second story, the roof and tower which is of the Swiss
order of architecture, and designed when erected to be only of temporary
utility, were all completed in 1876, and imposed upon the organization a debt of
$10,000, most of it bearing ten per cent interest.  The existence of this debt
made it impracticable for the organization to finish the structure until 1884,
when work was resumed and the building completed by and dedicated on December 6,
1885.  At this time the membership was about 300, and at the present time
(January 1, 1887) it is 369.  The building is a two-story brick, with lecture
room in the basement seating 400, and the auditorium in the second story
containing 600 opera chairs.  The extreme length of the building is 150 feet,
and the extreme width 80 feet and the tower 150 feet in height.  The total cost
of the building has been about $130,000.  The Sunday-school has about 150
scholars and twenty officers and teachers.  The Rev. Dr. S. H. Ford was pastor
until July 1, 1871; the Rev. Sylvanus Landrum, D.D., from October 1, 1871, to
July 1, 1879; the Rev. Thomas J. Rowan from January 1, 1880, to July 29, 1882,
and the present pastor, Rev. A. W. Lamar, from Macon, Ga., commenced his
pastorate November 1, 1882.



The colored Baptist have a very fine church on Beale Street, which is massive in
construction and well attended.



St. Peter’s Church was organized in 1840, the building standing at the corner of
Adams and Third Streets.  In 1841 the Rev. Michael McAleer was placed in charge
and remained until 1845, when he resigned, when Bishop Miles placed the parish
in charge of the Dominicans, whose mother house was then as now at St. Rose,
near Springfield, Washington Co., Ky.  The first Dominicans in charge were the
Rev. James S. Alemany, O.S.D., afterward archbishop of San Francisco, and the
Rev. Thomas L. Grace, O.S.D., present bishop of St. Paul.  From 1845 to 1853 in
addition to these two priests Fathers J. H. Clarkson, Anthony O’Brien, Aloysius
Orengo, Francis Cubero, R. A. White, J. A. Boekel, Sr., and J. R. Cleary
ministered in turn to the Catholics in West Tennessee and eastern Arkansas.  In
1853 the population of Memphis had reached 11,000, and the Catholics had so
increased in numbers that the little brick church was far too small for their
accommodation; hence in the beginning of this year the Rev. Father T. L. Grace
with the aid of his assistant pastors began the work of building the present St.
Peter’s Church edifice, which was completed in 1857.  It is a fine structure,
80x150 feet, cruciform in shape, of the Gothic style of architecture, capable of
seating 1,500 people and cost $150,000.  As an ecclesiastical structure it
stands unrivaled in the South, and the organ in this church procured through the
exertions of the Rev. Father Clarkson, is also one of the remarkable instruments
of the kind in the Southern States.  It was procured in 1864, having been
originally built for a church in Atlanta, Ga., but the closing in of the lines
of the Federal Army around that city prevented its being erected in its
originally designed position.  Accordingly negotiations were entered into with
Henry Erben, of New York, then the foremost organ builder in the United States,
as the result of which the magnificent instrument was set up in St. Peter’s in
the spring of the year mentioned.  Its original cost was to have been $13,000,
but it was secured for St. Peter’s for $9,000.  It has three manuals and a pedal
of twenty-nine keys.



In 1856 Rev. Father Grace established St. Peter’s Orphan Asylum, placing it in
charge of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Dominic, and for the last thirty
years this asylum has been sustained by the efforts of the Dominican Fathers.
During the last forty-one years forty different priests have been stationed at
St. Peter's, those in charge at the present time being Pastor Very Rev. M. D.
Lilly, O.S.D., and the Rev. R. M. Bloomer, O.S.D., and Rev. J. P. Moran, O.S.D.
During the yellow fever epidemics of 1873, 1878 and 1879 no more heroic
sacrifices were made in attempting to relieve the sufferings of the sick than
were made by the priests of this church.  As soon as one priest died another
came from the North to take his place, when to do so was almost certain death.
At the close of terrible epidemics St. Peter’s had furnished eight victims as
follows: In 1873—Rev. J. R. Daley, O.S.D; Rev. D. A. O’Brien, O.S.D.; Rev. B. V.
Carey, O.S.D., and Rev. J. D. Sheehy, O.S.D; in 1878—Rev. J. A. Boekel, Jr.,
O.S.D.; Rev. J. R. McGarvey, O.S.D., and Rev. P. J. Seawell; in 1879—Rev.
Dalmatius Reville, O.S.D.  All of these voluntary victims to the dread epidemic
lie buried in Calvary Cemetery, where a fitting monument commemorates their
heroic deeds.  About 400 families belong to the church.  A parish school was
established soon after the church was built.  It is under the control of the
pastor and taught by the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Dominic.  At present
there are about 120 pupils in attendance.  Tuition is free.



St. Mary’s Church is the only German Catholic Church in Memphis.  It was
established as a mission of St. Boniface in 1852, the object being to build up a
charge for the Germans, who had hitherto been members of St. Peter’s Church.
Among the Dominican Fathers at St. Peter’s were some German priests who had
cared for the German Catholic members of the congregation.  The last of these
was the Rev. Father J. A. Boekel, who with the German Catholics of St. Peter’s
purchased a lot on Union Street, which they sold in 1856 and purchased one on
the corner of Market and Third Streets for $9,000.  A small frame building on
the lot was fitted up for a church and the Rt. Rev. James Whelan, bishop of
Nashville, sent in 1860 a secular priest to take charge of the new congregation,
the Rev. W. J. Repis, who died in 1885 at Feehanville, near Chicago.  In 1862
the Rev. Father Thoma took charge.  The war coming on then materially checked
the growth of St. Mary’s, but in 1864 a new and substantial brick church was
erected, having been begun by the Rev. Cornelius Thoma.  The Rev. L. Schneider
succeeded Father Thoma in 1867, and nearly finished the church outwardly and
purchased the adjoining lot at a cost of $9,000.  Petitions of the German
Catholics of Memphis for the Franciscan Fathers were at length answered by the
appointment of Father Eugenius Puers from Teutopolis, Effingham Co., Ill., in
1870, who on account of poor health was superseded in August of the same year by
the Rev. Kilian Schlosser, at present rector of St. Peter’s in Chicago.  In
September, 1871, Rev. Ambrosius Jansen built a fine new monastery near the
church.  In 1873 Rev. Father Buchholz built a new entrance to the monastery on
Market Street.  Being called back to Germany in 1879 Rev. Aloysius Wiener became
rector and remained until 1885, when he was succeeded by Rev. Father Nemesius
Rohde, who came here from St. Peter’s in Chicago.  During the epidemics in 1873,
1878 and 1879 the Franciscan Fathers were very much devoted to the sick,
especially Father Aloysius Wiener, who lived and labored successfully through
all the fever years, though three learned assistants fell victims to the
scourge: Rev. Fathers Lee Rinklage, Maternus Mallmann and Chrysostom Reinke, and
also the good Fathers Amandus and Erasmus.  Besides these four Franciscan
Sisters died of the yellow fever, as also some sisters of St. Mary’s from St.
Louis.  In connection with St. Mary’s Church is St. Mary’s School, which was
kept by Franciscan Sisters from Joliet, Ill., until after the fever of 1873,
when, having lost so many Sisters, the General Sister Superior gave up the
school, and for six years the girls were taught by the Dominican Sisters of
Memphis and the boys by male teachers secular and regular.  After the epidemic
of 1879 the Ursuline Sisters from Louisville accepted the oft-repeated petition
to take charge of the school at Memphis, and since that time the school has
steadily improved.  Plans are now completed for the erection of a new school
building.



The Very Rev. Martin Riordan, V.G., under Bishop Feehan, came from St. Louis to
Tennessee with the Bishop in 1865, and also Father Martin Walsh, who built St.
Brigid’s Church.  Rev. M. Riordan was appointed to labor among the Catholics in
the northern part of Memphis, and he at first established a school in a rented
building on Wellington Street.  Rev. M. Riordan also at this time attended the
Catholic Missions throughout West Tennessee.  In 1866 he built the parsonage at
St. Patrick’s, in which he held services on Sundays pending the erection of the
brick church now used as a schoolhouse, which continued to be used as a school
until 1869, when the present frame church building at the corner of De Soto and
Linden Streets was erected, costing the enormous sum of $11,000, the parsonage
having also cost $11,000, and the brick schoolhouse when up one story costing
$5,000.  The explanations of this great cost is in the flush times in which they
were built, carpenters and bricklayers then receiving $7 per day for their
labor.  In 1867 a cemetery containing eighty acres was purchased at a cost of
$500 per acre.  This purchase was made by Rev. M. Riordan, after consulting some
of the best business men of Memphis, who pronounced the price not by any means
too high.  The purchase was made wholly on credit, $5,000 to be paid annually at
six per centum if paid at maturity, otherwise eight per centum was to be paid,
and in some cases ten per centum.  While Rev. M. Riordan paid for all the
buildings he erected and for the ground upon which they stand he found it
impossible to meet the annual payments on the cemetery (Calvary) grounds as they
came due, and there still remains to this parish as a legacy, including,
however, the floating debts, about $30,000 of debt.  In 1877 Calvary Association
was formed consisting of six laymen, with the bishop of the diocese an ex-
officio member, and the pastors of St. Patrick’s and St. Brigid’s Churches,
directors.  Rev. Mr. Riordan, a very excellent man, died of the yellow fever in
1878, and was succeeded by Father Edward Doyle, who died of the fever in 1879.
Father Quinn then took charge of the parish and remained until June, 1881, when
the present pastor, Rev. Father J. Veale, commenced his labors here.  He has
added the second story to the brick school building and has improved both the
church building and the parsonage at a cost of from $5,000 to $6,000.  The
present membership of the church is about 300 families and the school which is
taught by Sisters of Charity from Nazareth, Ky., contains about 240 pupils.



St. Brigid’s Church, standing at the corner of Third and Overton Streets, was
opened for worship December 25, 1870.  The building is about 103 feet long by 55
wide, and will seat 750 persons.  It has five altars.  Over the high altars is
an artistic stained glass window representing the Crucifixion and Sts. John and
Luke, the evangelists.  The other windows are adorned with the statues of the
patrons of the church: St. Brigid, St. Joseph, the Blessed Virgin and of the
Sacred Heart of the Redeemer.  Attached to the church is a convent of the
Sisters of Charity from Nazareth, Ky., and a two-story brick schoolhouse erected
in 1873, the school having on an average 200 scholars in attendance.  At first
this school was conducted by the Franciscan Sisters and subsequently by the
Sisters of St. Dominic and lay teachers.  In 1879 it was taken charge of by the
Sisters of St. Joseph and then by lay teachers until June, 1882.  Since
September, 1882, it has been conducted by the Sisters of Charity.  From 1879 to
1883 it was a free school, but now, as at the beginning, it receives
contributions toward its expenses by such pupils as are both able and willing to
pay.  The priests in charge of this church have ever since its foundation been
particular in the matter of education.  The first pastor was the Rev. Martin
Walsh.  In 1873 the congregation suffered severely from the yellow fever.  About
800 of the Catholic population who died that year were attended chiefly by Rev.
Fathers Walsh and Quinn.  But notwithstanding the great suffering of the church
on account of this epidemic the congregation contributed liberally toward the
upbuilding of the church, pastoral residence and brick school, all occupying a
half-square of ground.  In 1878 Father Matthew Camp originated here, organized
at the suggestion of the present rector by the Father Matthew, Total Abstinence
Society attached to St. Brigid’s Church.  A camp of refuge was established for
all persons worthy of relief who could be reached by the camp’s officers.  Both
Father Martin Walsh and Michael Meagher died August 29, 1878.  Father Walsh was
succeeded by Rev. William Walsh, who has been assisted by the Rev. Michael Ryan
and Rev. John J. Walsh, the latter of whom died of small-pox in February, 1882.
In 1878 the pastors of this church received as contributions from various parts
of the United States, $29,000 toward the relief of the distressed.  Father
Matthew Camp was established in 1879 with similar success.



The Rt. Rev. Patrick Feehan, then bishop of Nashville, and the Very Rev. Martin
Riordan, his vicar-general, were originators of the project of forming a new
congregation in the southern part of Memphis, otherwise called Ft. Pickering. It
was entrusted to the care of Rev. Antonio Luiselli, then assistant pastor of St.
Patrick’s, having served seven years in that capacity.  The corner-stone of St.
Joseph’s Church was laid March 17, 1878, in the presence of a large concourse of
people.  The address of the occasion was delivered by the Rev. Mayer of
Nashville.  The church building was dedicated June 23, 1878, though yet
unfinished.  A beautiful and exquisitely sweet-toned organ has recently been
imported from Europe by the pastor, at a cost of $2,000.  The membership of this
church is composed mostly of Italians, of whom there are about 1,000 in the
parish, though some of the Italians belong to other parishes in Memphis.



The Stranger’s Church was organized as the First Congregational Church in 1863.
Meetings were held in various places, as in the Odd Fellows’ hall, Greenlaw’s
Block on Union Street, etc., until 1864, when the church received from
Massachusetts assistance toward the purchase of a lot, and from F. H. Clark a
gift of $1,000 toward the same object.  The present church edifice on Union
Street was erected at a cost of about $5,000, and was dedicated June 20, 1865,
by the Rev. T. E. Bliss, the first pastor.  During the war there were very large
congregations because of the large number of northern people in the city.  After
the retirement in 1868 of the Rev. Mr. Bliss, the pastor was Rev. A. E. Baldwin,
from Lincoln, Ill., who remained until 1875, and was succeeded by Rev. W. D.
Millard, who was pastor two years and was succeeded by Rev. N. M. Long, who had
been for some time pastor of the Lauderdale Street Church, but who was compelled
to retire from the Presbyterian Church on account of a trial for heresy, in
which, however, he was three times acquitted by the presbytery, synod and
general assembly.  Rev. Mr. Long commenced his labors in the old First
Congregational Church building in December, 1881, with eight members, the name
Stranger’s Church being adopted.  One year afterward there were thirty-four
members, and at the present time about 100.  The Ladies’ Aid Society is very
active, having paid out $935 during the past year.



The Linden-Street Christian Church was organized in 1846 by Mr. and Mrs. Egbert
Wooldridge, Mr. and Mrs. E. W. Caldwell, Mary McIntosh and Ann McGuire.  A lot
on the southeast corner of Linden and Mulberry Streets was purchased, on which
stood a small frame dwelling which was immediately remodeled and fixed up for a
church.  This church building was used until 1860, when the present large brick
church edifice was erected, but which was finished after the war.  It is a two-
story structure with Sunday-school room and pastor’s study below and auditorium
above.  A massive tower stands on each front corner of the building, which is
itself about 45x100 feet in dimensions, and which cost the remarkably low sum of
about $20,000.  The parsonage, a two-story frame building at the rear of the
church, was erected in 1877 and cost $4,000.  The organ used in the church is of
Mason & Hamlin manufacture and cost $1,000.  The pastors of this church have
been as follows: From its organization to 1853, Elder B. F. Hall, who in that
year was succeeded by Elder R. E. Chew.  In 1855 Elder W. J. Barbee became the
pastor and remained until the war, during the continuance of which there was no
regular preaching.  Since the war the following elders have filled the pulpit:
R. A. Cook, commencing in 1864; T. W. Caskey, in 1866; Curtis J. Smith, 1869;
David Walk, 1870; J. M. Trible, 1879; G. W. Sweeney, 1882, and J. B. Briney,
January, 1886.  The church organization was chartered about the year 1850.  The
present members of the incorporation are Tom Gale, president; D. C. Jones,
secretary; J. J. Lovin, W. H. Bates, T. J. Latham, W. C. Griswold, J. H. Smith,
J. N. Jones and R. C. Lane.  S. C. Toof is the treasurer.  The policy of this
organization is to avoid debt, which is one secret of its success, and its
affairs are managed on strictly business principles.  The minister is relieved
from all labors except those legitimately belonging to pastoral work and
preaching.  The church thus has the benefit of his maximum efficiency, and its
whole work, including business management and Sunday-school work, is
accomplished with a minimum friction.  Its membership is now about 220, and the
Sunday-school, of which S. C. Toof has been superintendent most of the time for
the last twenty-three years, has about 110 scholars.



St. Mary’s Cathedral (Episcopal) is located on Poplar Street at the junction of
Orleans Street.  The church was founded in 1857, during the episcopate of the
Rt. Rev. James H. Otey, D.D.  It stands on a lot fronting 100 feet on Poplar
Street and extends through to Alabama Street; this lot, together with the one on
which stands the Episcopal residence, was donated by the late Robert C.
Brinkley.  The church was originally built as a mission chapel by members of
Calvary Parish, under the rectorship of the Rev. Dr. C. T. Quintard.  The late
Rev. Richard Hines, D.D., held the rectorship fourteen years, and at the close
of his rectorship the parish was made a cathedral or church of the bishop of the
diocese.  The Rev. George C. Harris, S.T.D., was installed as dean in 1871,
holding the position until 1881.  The Very Rev. William Klein was installed dean
immediately after the resignation of Dean Harris, and is the present incumbent.
During the past year there were 109 baptisms and seventy-one persons presented
for confirmation.  There are connected with the cathedral the following
organizations: Sunday-school, teachers twelve, scholars 148; choir of men and
boys; cathedral school for girls; St. Mary’s mission to the poor; the Cathedral
Guild for women; St. Mary’s Guild for women; St. Timothy’s Guild for Sunday-
school teachers; St. Martha’s Guild for the children of the cathedral school;
the Ministering Children’s League; a Ward of the Confraternity of the Blessed
Sacrament for the deepening of spiritual life.



The parish school of the cathedral is in successful operation.  Adjoining the
cathedral is St. Mary’s School, a boarding and day school for young ladies and
children, in charge of the Sisters of St. Mary, containing about 150 pupils.
These Sisters also have charge of the church home, an orphanage located on the
Old Raleigh Road, which provides for fifty or sixty orphans.



A part of the work of the cathedral is the parish of Emanuel Church for colored
people.  The church edifice, located on Third Street between Jefferson and Court
Streets, originally built for a German Lutheran congregation, was purchased in
1884.  Dean Klein has entire charge of the work, the Rev. D. R. Anderson, a
colored deacon, serving under him.  Connected with this colored mission is a
parish school of about 100 pupils, taught by the Rev. Mr. Anderson.



Calvary Parish was organized in 1835.  The first building was erected near Court
Square, and the present structure standing on the corner of Adams and Second
Streets, in 1841.  This building was enlarged and improved in 1880, and is now
worth about $25,000.  It will seat 750 people.  The membership of the parish is
about 900, and the communicants number 352.  The altar and the organ in the
church cost about $6,000.  It is believed that the first rector of this parish
was Dr. Page, who was followed by Dr. Philip Alston before the war.  Bishop Otey
and the present bishop of Tennessee, Dr. C. T. Quintard, both served this
church, and were followed by Rev. Dr. George White, who was rector nearly twenty
years, is now rector emeritus, and was succeeded by Rev. Davis Sessums in 1883.
Rev. Mr. Sessums, in the latter part of 1886, resigned to accept a call to New
Orleans.  Calvary Parish has been very liberal to the venerable Dr. White,
having paid him during the three years and nine months prior to January 1, 1887,
$7,300, while at the same time it has paid its rector, Rev. Mr. Sessums, $6,475.
This extreme liberality to its rector emeritus has militated seriously against
the prosperity, and while it is creditable to the hearts of the parishioners,
yet it reflects little credit upon their judgement.



The Congregation of the Children of Israel was formed in 1854 by a few
Israelites, who obtained that year a charter for the congregation.  The
incorporators were J. I. Andrews, Moses Simons, John Walker, D. Levy, Julius
Sandac, T. Folz, M. Bamberger, M. Bloom, Joseph Strauss and Reinach.  From a
large sum bequeathed by Judah Touro of New Orleans, toward assisting small
congregations in building synagogues, $2,000 was set aside to this congregation.
A lot was purchased on Second Street, and a building at the corner of Main and
Exchange Streets, formerly occupied by the Farmers and Merchants Bank, rented
and dedicated as a house of worship in February, 1858, by the Rev. Dr. Wise.
Shortly afterward this property was purchased and used as a synagogue until
January 18, 1884, when the present elegant building on Poplar Street was erected
at a cost of $50,000.  At this dedication the Rev. Dr. J. M. Wise, H. Sonneshein
and M. Samfield officiated.  The congregation at present numbers 176, and the
Sunday-school, of which Rev. M. Samfield is superintendent, has 120 pupils,
taught by a staff of eleven teachers.  A new cemetery was dedicated in 1885 and
a mortuary chapel built on it in 1886.



July 1, 1860, the Rev. S. Tuska was elected rabbi of the congregation, and
served until his death, December 30, 1870, when he was succeeded by the present
learned rabbi, Rev. M. Samfield.  The Congregation of Beth El Emes was formed
from members of this congregation about 1863, but it was reincorporated into
this congregation in 1883, since which time it has been very strong in members
and in means.



The German Lutheran Church of Memphis, was organized in 1855, and had religious
services and preaching by Rev. W. Fick, of New Orleans, who also attended his
own congregation in New Orleans.  Toward the latter part of the year Paul Beyer,
a student of theology at St. Louis, was sent to Memphis and preached a short
time.  In 1856 he was called to the ministry of this church and remained until
1858, when he was succeeded by Rev. G. M. Gotsch, D.D., who remained until his
death in 1876.  He was succeeded by his pastor, Rev. H. Lieck, who remained
until the breaking out of the yellow fever epidemic of 1878, when he left the
city, and was followed by Rev. Thomas Bensen, who died in 1881.  In September of
this year Rev. T. G. Plautz became pastor and was followed by the present
pastor, Rev. Wilhelm H. Th. Dau, in 1886.  The congregation now numbers thirty
members.



The parochial school in connection with this church has always been under the
direction of pastors of the congregation, who have been assisted by various
teachers.  At the present time there are about forty pupils.  After worshiping
and teaching at No. 110 Main for several years the congregation bought Lot No.
98, Washington St., in 1874, and upon it Mr. Stoltz of Washington, D.C., erected
the first story of the present building.  The second story which is not yet
finished inside was added in 1883.  The congregation have recently agreed upon
the following name: “The German Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Church and School.”



The city of Memphis is on the Mississippi River in north latitude 35 degrees 6’
and in 13 degrees west longitude from Washington and on the fourth Chickasaw
bluff.  About the time of the treaty with the Chickasaws, by which the western
district was opened up to settlement by white people, there were but a few white
settlers at this point and none in the surrounding country.  These few were the
families of Patrick Meagher, Joshua Fletcher, Quimby, John Grace, William
Irvine, John B. Moore, Anderson B. Carr, Thomas D. Carr and Tillman Bettis.  All
but the last three had lived here for a considerable number of years, trading
with the Indians.  In the spring of 1819 M. B. Winchester, accompanied by
William Lawrence, came down the Mississippi in a flatboat from Cairo, Ill., to
the fourth Chickasaw bluff.  Upon their arrival, after a trip of twenty days,
Mr. Winchester formed a copartnership with Anderson B. Carr and established a
trading house, making the third house of this kind then at the Bluff, although
the entire trade at this point at that time did not exceed $25,000 per annum.



The original proprietor of the town site of Memphis was John Rice, to whom North
Carolina had granted 5,000 acres of land at this point by grant No. 283, as
fully explained elsewhere in this sketch.  This grant was devised by him to his
brother, Elisha Rice, and sold by Elisha Rice to John Overton in 1794 for $500.
This is a very remarkable thing, John Rice having paid 500 in specie to North
Carolina for the same land.  John Overton conveyed one-half of the tract to his
personal friend, Gen. Andrew Jackson, who at various times sold portions of his
interest, until finally the ownership of this tract settled down as follows:
John Overton, one-half; Gen. James Winchester, one-fourth; Gen. Andrew Jackson,
one-eighth and William Winchester, one-eighth.  In 1819 Judge Overton and Gen.
Winchester came to Memphis and laid out a town which they thus named, Front,
Main, Second and Third Streets being laid out from Bayou Gayoso to Union Street,
not being extended farther south because the proprietors did not know where the
survey would locate the south line of the grant.  In 1820 it was thought by the
most sanguine that Memphis was destined to become a populous city, and there
were 362 lots laid off on the plat.  The streets were designated as running to
the four cardinal points, which they do very nearly, and are wider than is
customary in southern cities.  There were at first four public squares, Court
Square being one of the four, and between the front lots and the river an ample
promenade was reserved.  The place was described as being the only site for a
town of any magnitude on the Mississippi River between the mouth of the Ohio and
Natchez, no other place on either side being sufficiently high and dry, level
and extensive and the country back of it was seen to be comparatively elevated,
level and dry, of great extent and well drained, well adapted to the growth of
blue and herd grass and clover and to cotton, corn, wheat and tobacco.  The
superiority of the bluff on which Memphis stands, over the few other situations
of high lands along the Mississippi, had not been overlooked by La Salle, who in
1736 selected it for a trading fort and garrison.  Spain also recognized the
value of the position as a healthy and commanding place for a similar
establishment.  A fort and garrison had been built by the latter many years
previous to the surrender of the place in accordance with the treaty of St.
Ildefonso.



At this time, 1820, Memphis had fifty inhabitants, the following being some of
the principal heads of families besides those already named: Isaac Rawlings, who
came here originally about 1813 as a sutler with Gen. Jackson.  He was also
Indian agent up to the time of their removal.  For a number of years he had a
large quantity of Indian and army stores in the block-houses at Fort Pickering.
He was in addition a kind of magistrate by popular consent, without the
formality of an election or an official appointment, from which fact he was
honored with the title of “Squire Rawlings,” and it is written of him in “Old
Times Papers,” that “it is questionable whether justice was not more equally
administered then than it has ever been since.”  It is also said that after the
extinguishment of the Indian titles he was appointed by the Legislature one of
the magistrates, but did not give the satisfaction when administering justice by
a written system as when governed by the dictates of his own honest heart;
somewhat on the principal probably that a violinist accustomed to play by rote
cannot play equally well by note.  But he became a great student of law,
especially of the decisions of the most distinguished judges, and if he were not
one of the most learned men of the day, he was certainly one of the most
mistaken men of the day.



John C. McLemore was another of those heads of families.  He purchased Gen.
Jackson’s interest in the town site, and thus became one of the proprietors of
the town, as also one of its most active and liberal friends.  It was through
his exertions that a large number of settlers was induced to make the Bluff
their home.  Isaac Rawlings, as has been before stated, was an Indian trader
years before the establishment of the town of Memphis, and after its
establishment he continued still in the commercial line, his principal
competitor being Maj. Marcus B. Winchester, one of the handsomest and courtliest
of men, whose stock of goods was far more extensive and valuable than anything
that “Ike” had ever had.  Maj. Winchester’s place of business was on Front
Street just south of Jackson Street, where he erected the finest house in the
town.  Rawling’s establishment was at Anderson’s bridge, a favorite camping-
ground, particularly with the Indians, in consequence of which he had carried on
the most extensive trade; but after Winchester’s fine store was put up on the
Bluff, the trade was gradually transferred to the latter place, and to change
this condition of affairs, Rawlings determined to change the location of his
store.  He selected a lot on the west side of Second Street, between Jackson and
Winchester Streets, for which he paid some $10 or $15.  The selection of this
position was considered by him a fine strategic movement, as the place was high,
overlooking the camping-ground at the bridge and also Winchester’s store at the
Bluff, and would, he thought, enable him to retain all of his trade at the
former place and draw off a good deal of that of his rival, Maj. Winchester. But
in order to secure the full benefit of his new position it would be necessary to
have the alley on which his new store stood widened, but this he could have done
without going to Winchester, who represented the proprietors, and asking him to
have it done.  Putting a bold face upon the matter, as is usually the better
way, the haughty Rawlings made the proper request of the proper party, and much
to his surprise the request was readily and politely granted and he himself
given the privilege of conferring a name upon the widened street.  Rawlings,
therefore, named it “Commerce Street.”  The new store, erected at greater
expense than would have been the case had not Winchester had such a fine store,
is still standing with a basement added on account of the grading down of the
street.  A large stock of goods was put in, a portion of which remained on hand
unsold in 1844, eighteen years later, because of his resolute resistance to
marking down his prices in order to compete with his rivals.  The fact that
everybody else was underselling him, and that his custom was for this reason
steadily leaving him, was in his judgment no reason for taking the only
practical method of retaining his trade.  His store therefore at length became
little else than a magistrates office, in which he delighted to sit for hours
every day arguing legal questions and giving advice upon all subjects pertaining
to agriculture, commerce or law, while the simple principles upon which to
conduct his own little business of merchandising, were either entirely ignored,
or were as profound a mystery as was the origin of the pyramids or of the
Sphinx.  It was thought then by some, and it must have been true, that the
retrograding movement which Memphis then underwent was due in great part to
“Ike” Rawlings’ persistent opposition to everything in the way of improvement,
although it is also said that the general impression abroad that Memphis was a
very unhealthy place very much retarded her growth.  Like all new towns in the
South and West, her citizens were subject to malarious fevers, which nothing can
prevent but the improvements gradually introduced by civilization.  The larger
part of the sickness afflicting Memphis from her origin to the present time,
except the special epidemics of yellow fever and small-pox, have doubtless been
caused by the existence of large areas of unclaimed wild lands, ponds, and lakes
across the Mississippi River in Arkansas.



When the town of Memphis was laid out the proprietors of the original plat were
John Overton, Andrew Jackson, Gen. James Winchester, of Tennessee, and the
devisees George and William Winchester, of William Winchester (deceased), of the
city of Baltimore.  In the sale of lots which went on from time to time in
Memphis from 1819 to 1829, John Overton and Andrew Jackson were represented by
their attorney, John Overton; James Winchester acted for himself, and M. B.
Winchester was attorney for the devisees of Winchester.  The first sale of lots
by the proprietors through their attorneys was made in March, 1822.  Lots No. 1
and No. 2 were sold to Patrick Meagher, the following being the form of deed in
each case:

WHEREAS John Overton, Andrew Jackson, James Winchester, of Tennessee, and the
devisees of William Winchester, deceased, of the city of Baltimore, owners of a
5,000-acre tract of land upon the Chickasaw Bluff at the mouth of Wolf River,
have laid off said tract into a town known by the name of Memphis, and 

WHEREAS the aforesaid John Overton and Andrew Jackson, by John Overton, their
attorney, and James Winchester, for himself and the devisees of William
Winchester, deceased, by their several powers of attorney, dated the 22d day of
April, 1822, and registered in the office of the register of Shelby County,
Tenn., did authorize and appoint William Lawrence and Marcus B. Winchester,
their respective and joint attorneys, for them and in their names, to execute
conveyances to purchasers of lots in said town of Memphis, which have been or
may hereafter be sold by direction of the aforesaid attorneys, therefore

Know ye that we, William Lawrence and Marcus B. Winchester, as aforesaid, by
virtue of the powers and authority aforesaid, in consideration of valuable
improvements put upon Lot No. 1, in said town, by Patrick Meagher, citizen of
said town, etc., do give, grant, enfeoff and convey unto the said Patrick
Meagher, all the right, title and interest of the aforesaid owners of Lot No. 1,
lying at the intersection of Jackson and Chickasaw Streets, beginning at a stake
marked N. 1, the southeast corner of said lot, at the intersection of said
streets; thence running north 9 ½ degrees east, with the west line of said
Chickasaw Street 37 feet 1 ½ inches to a stake, the south corner of Lot No. 2;
thence north 80 ½ degrees west with the south boundary of Lot No. 2, 148 ½ feet
to a stake the southwest corner of Lot No. 2; thence south 9 ½ degrees west 37
feet 1 ½ inches to a stake; thence south 80 ½ degrees east, fronting on the
public promenade, 148 ½ feet to the beginning.



Lot No. 2 was also sold to Patrick Meagher for $140, the deed to both being
dated February 6, 1823, and signed by William Lawrence and M. B. Winchester for
John Overton and Andrew Jackson, and by James Winchester for himself and the
devisees of William Winchester.  Lot No. 53 was sold to Benjamin Fooy (Foy) of
the Territory of Arkansas.  This lot was at the intersection of Winchester
Street and Mississippi Row, and the consideration was valuable improvements made
upon the lot, the deed being dated October 13, 1823.  Lots Nos. 50, 185 and 186
were sold to Anderson B. Carr, Februay 13, 1825, the consideration for the three
lots being $612.  Lot No. 50 was on the corner of Mississippi Row and an alley,
and Lot No. 186 at the corner of Main and Jackson Streets.  Lot No. 49 was sold
to Marcus B. Winchester June 30, 1824, for valuable improvements made thereon,
services as agent and $1 in hand paid, at the corner of Jackson Street and
Mississippi Row.  Lot No. 148 was sold January 5, 1825, to John R. Kent, in
consideration that he erect a good frame or brick house with two comfortable
rooms, each room to be at least fifteen feet square, within eighteen months.
One-half of Lot No. 40 was sold September 3, 1825, to Charlotte Fordan for $94,
and the other half of the same lot was sold to Anderson B. Carr, on the same day
for the same amount.  Lot No. 32 was sold January 6, 1826, to E. Coffee for $25,
and Lot No. 147 was sold May 3, 1826, to S. Rosebrough for $140.50.



The sale of lots went on slowly in this way until 1829 when the attorneys for
the proprietors made application to the county court for a division of their
different undivided interests in sundry unsold lots in Memphis and a tract of
1,200 acres of land.  In this petition which was dated April 20, 1829, the
petitioners state their respective interests to be as follows: John Overton’s
one-half; John C. McLemore’s, one-eighth; the heirs of Gen. James Winchester,
one-fourth, and the devisees of William Winchester, one-eighth.  It was signed
by William Lawrence, attorney in fact for John Overton and John C. McLemore, and
by M. B. Winchester, attorney in fact for George and William Winchester.  The
court in accordance with this petition ordered that Anderson B. Carr, Nathaniel
Anderson, John Ralston, David Dunn, Tilman Bettis, James H. Lawrence and William
Lawrence, or any five of them, be appointed commissioners to set apart to the
petitioners their several portions in severalty of said town lots and land and
report to the next court.  The next court of pleas and quarter sessions was held
at the courthouse at Raleigh July 20, 1829, to which the commissioners reported
that they had made a particular examination of the unsold lots and of the 1,200-
acre tract, lying northeast and south of the town of Memphis and usually known
as the town reserve, and had parcelled the said lots, etc., into eight divisions
as nearly equal in value as they could make them, and that John Overton was
entitled to four of said eight divisions, John C. McLemore to one, George and
William Winchester, together, to one, and that the estate of the late Gen. James
Winchester was entitled to two of the said eight divisions.  The particular
division which should belong to each interest was determined by ballot, and the
entire proceedings of the commissioners signed by Tilman Bettis, John Ralston,
William Lawrence, Anderson B. Carr and James H. Lawrence.



In December, 1826, as is elsewhere stated, the Legislature passed an act
incorporating the town of Memphis.  This took the citizens generally by
surprise.  Some were pleased, others were indifferent, and still others were
very much opposed to having to support an incorporation.  At a public meeting at
which “Ike” Rawlings presided, the incorporation was denounced as a trick of the
proprietors, and the chairman of the meeting himself made a strong speech
against it, showing how severe it would be on several of the poor people living
in the outskirts of the proposed town.  Speakers on the other side as strongly
favored the incorporation as being a necessity and proposed, in order to satisfy
Rawlings’ temporary prejudices, to leave out te poor people in the outskirts.
Notwithstanding the opposition to the incorporation it was a success.  After two
years of charter life, Memphis having experienced meantime considerable
improvement, the charter was amended so as to give to the town all the powers of
Nashville, and providing that the mayor should not hold any office under the
Government of the United States.  This without anything else in his favor would
have elected Isaac Rawlings mayor of the town, M. B. Winchester being at the
time both mayor and postmaster, and he was elected and re-elected a number of
times, serving in all many years.



For the first few years of the town’s existence its growth was quite slow.  From
the nature of the soil on which it was built the streets were very muddy, at
times almost impassable.  Trade was light and confined almost exclusively to
river craft.  The first receipts of cotton in this market were in 1826, when 300
bales were sent in from Fayette and Henderson Counties.  In four years the
growth of this business was so rapid that in 1830 the receipts were 10,000
bales.  In 1836 they were 50,000 bales; in 1845, 75,000 bales; in 1850, 150,000
bales; and in 1854, 180,000 bales.  The population of the place which in 1820
was 50, was in 1830, 704; in 1840, 1,700; in 1850, 6,427; in 1854, 12,687.  The
increase of population during these earlier years was so steady and great that
enthusiastic prophets ventured to predict in 1854 that a the end of the next
thirty-five years, the population would be over 800,000.  In 1845 proper
measures were taken to improve the streets, and since then large sums have been
expended, especially since the yellow fever epidemic of 1878-79, and as a
consequence the streets are at this time (1887) in a better condition than are
those of most other southern cities.  In 1834, when W. A. Bickford came to
Memphis, there were but two physicians, M. B. Sappington and Wyatt Christian. In
1838 Mr. Bickford made a list of the adult male white citizens, containing 209
names, which was thus the first directory of Memphis.  Not more than nine of
this number are now living.



After the failure of numerous special projects to build up the city, the navy
yard project came up in 1843.  In 1841 Congress had appointed commissioners to
locate a navy yard somewhere in the Mississippi Valley, and after a careful
examination of the Mississippi River throughout its entire length, from the
mouth of the Ohio to New Orleans, these commissioners reported that at the mouth
of Wolf River was the best location.  When this subject was first broached it
was regarded by many as a huge joke; but it was as necessary then as now for
congressmen to do something for their constituents.  Helena, Ark., had a
Government Hospital, and Vicksburg had a lighthouse, which was, it is believed,
actually lighted up during one entire month, and Memphis, to stand on a par with
her sister cities of the valley, must have a navy yard, though hundreds of miles
from the sea.  It was however a much more easy matter to get through Congress
the bill providing for its establishment, than it was afterward to secure
appropriations for its support.  In 1843 three young officers of the navy
visited Memphis for the purpose of examining into its adaptability for a naval
depot and dock yard.  The space of ground devoted to the navy yard was bounded
on the north by Auction Street; on the east by Front Street; on the south by
Market Street and on the west by the Mississippi River.



This tract of land was in part or wholly donated to the United States Government
for the purpose of securing the location of the navy yard.  The first action
taken by the board of mayor and aldermen looking to this end was on September
23, 1841, when the following preamble and resolutions were adopted.

WHEREAS the Government of the United States has passed an act promising the
establishment of an armory on the western waters, and believing the local
situation of Memphis is advantageously situated for such an establishment,
therefore

Resolved, That the mayor be authorized to appoint a committee of five citizens
to draw up a memorial to the President of the United States setting forth the
claims of Memphis and the advantages she possesses for such an establishment.



On May 1, 1843, the board received from the commissioners of the General
Government a plat of a survey made by them with a view of reporting to Congress
on the practicability of establishing a naval dock yard and depot.  The plan
included a part of the Promenade and Batture, lying north of Market Street, and
also town lots belonging to private individuals from No. 1 to No. 24 inclusive.
A committee was appointed to act with the mayor to obtain from the owners of
said lots by purchase or otherwise the right and title to the same with a view
to transferring them to the General Government if the national works should be
located at this point.  On the 4th of May succeeding an act was passed by the
board of mayor and aldermen enacting that for and in consideration of the sum of
$20,000, when paid, the mayor would under the authority of the act they were
then passing make a deed conveying to the General Government of the United
States the ground surveyed by the committee for a navy yard and depot, if the
same should be required within three years, for the establishment of such navy
yard and depot.  After some difficulty over the title to the property, on the
23d of December, 1844, the committee appointed to close up the titles to the
property was instructed to take the deed of Seth Wheatley for twenty-three lots,
and the corporation would then make a deed for the whole, including streets and
Batture, to the General Government, and that the committee should go on to
perfect the titles excluding the twenty-four lots west of Chickasaw Street.
After the completion of the transfer to the Government, a wall was erected,
twelve feet thick a the base as also a rope walk, a large store, a commandant’s
house, a blacksmith shop, a carpenter’s shop, a sawmill, an office building
resembling the Coliseum at Rome, with columns all around.  Commodore Shields and
Commodore Lavalette were the successive commandants at this famous naval depot.
After struggling along for a number of years with increasing difficulty to
secure the necessary appropriations for its support, the navy yard and its
buildings were abandoned, the amount of money spent thereon having been from
$1,200,000 to $1,500,000.  The only creditable piece of work turned out of this
novel navy yard, was the great iron steamship of war, “Alleghany,” which was
entirely built and equipped here with the exception of her hull.  This was a
most wonderful war vessel!  Her speed is said to have been four miles per hour
down stream, that being about the ordinary rapidity of the current, and four
hours to the mile up stream, and after a brief but entirely unsatisfactory
history, having cost the Government nearly $500,000, she was totally condemned.
The navy yard itself was overtaken by a similar fate.  In 1853 Senator (ex-Gov.)
James C. Jones, incensed at the parsimony with which Congress made
appropriations for the support of the Memphis navy yard, made a demand that the
property be returned to the city.  The Senate, as if hoping some such way would
present itself to get the elephant off its hands, instantly took the senator at
his word, and thus ended one of the greatest failures in the shape of a navy
yard this country has known.



In 1841 the city extended but little below Poplar Street, and there was but one
brick house in town.  It was not until 1844 that much business was transacted
below Madison Street.  In 1842 and 1843 the Gayoso House was built, and in 1844
a store was erected at the corner of Front and Union Streets, and South Memphis
was built up after 1840.  In 1847 W. A. Bickford erected at the corner of Front
and Poplar Streets, extending to Exchange Street, a large business and office
block, known then and ever since as the Exchange building.  It contained the
City Hall, 52x106 feet, besides a number of smaller halls for various public
purposes, such as the mayor’s office, the council’s office, and a lecture hall.
In 1849 the large building on the corner of Main and North Court Streets was
commenced, and completed in 1850.  In 1853 the city contained the following
numbers of business houses: nineteen groceries; four hat, cap, boot and shoe
stores; thirty-seven dry goods stores; fifteen clothing merchants; four auction
and commission merchants; two book stores, one musical instrument store, two
dentists, five merchant tailors, three millinery establishments, three
saddleries, seventeen foundries, plumbers, etc.; one flouring-mill, five
hardware stores, eight drug stores, two real estate agents, nine hotels, among
them the Gayoso kept by J. M. Fletcher, three factories, two daguerreotypists,
three printing offices, six painters, ten furniture stores, etc., three banks,
forty law firms, thirty-two physicians, three livery stables, three jewelers,
Memphis Medical College with eight professors, and four newspapers.  The
population, as has been seen, was 12,687 in 1854.      



Previous to laying out the town of South Memphis there was considerable strife
and hard feeling between the two sections, a complete history of which however
is not deemed appropriate in this work.  The north part of the town or rather
Memphis was known by the not very euphonious designation of “Pinch,” and South
Memphis was in retaliation named Sodom.  The feeling went so far that the names
of Sodom and Gomorrah were applied to the Methodist Churches in the two places.
In the north part there was a bend in the bayou, which constituted a
considerable lake, one known by the name of Catfish Bay.  The abundance of fish
in its waters and the cheapness of lumber in the vicinity induced a number of
poor families to build shanties and settle upon its banks.  One group of very
poor houses, noted for the destitution of its occupants, was named by Craven
Peyton “Pinch Gut.”  This name was of course distasteful to the occupants of the
row, and they insisted that it belonged to the other side of the bay.  The
latter people were much displeased at the attempt to fasten upon their locality
such an opprobrious epithet, and the feud thus created was much enjoyed by those
living outside of both localities.  However, their enjoyment was to be only
short-lived, as the application of the name continued to expand until it finally
took in the entire north end of town.  But the extension of the name was of
great value to those people as it served to bind them together with a common
tie, and caused them all to work together for the advancement of the locality
known as "Pinch."  The bitterness of feeling however had a lasting effect upon
the destinies of South Memphis.  A glance at the map of Memphis as now
incorporated shows that the most of the north and south streets in the city are
not continuous below Union Street, the object of the people of South Memphis
being to restrict as much as possible communication with the detested residents
of Pinch.



During the early history of Memphis great trouble was experienced in collecting
wharfage.  Wharfage could not, in fact, be collected previous to 1841.  There
being no railroads the products of the Southern and Western States were carried
down the Mississippi River in flatboats, which frequently came in fleets.  The
managers of these flatboats were opposed to paying wharfage, and when they
banded together in resistance to the wharf-master it was only discretion which
he exhibited when he abandoned all attempts to collect it, and retreated with
becoming celerity up the hill.  The income from wharfage for several years was
out of all proportion to the trouble and annoyance of the wharf-master, who,
together with some of the best citizens of the place, was frequently assaulted
and shamefully abused by the boatmen.  But this state of things could not last
forever.  In 1841 a reform board of mayor and aldermen was elected, William
Spickernagle being elected mayor.  Mr. Spickernagle attempted a thorough reform
in the kind of men elected to office.  Two voluntary military companies, known
as the Guards and the Blues, were encouraged to organize and equip themselves;
and upon the completion of their organization they offered their services to the
mayor, to assist in the enforcement of the laws.  The board of mayor and
aldermen was placed in a particularly trying situation.  The three towns of
Memphis, South Memphis and Fort Pickering were doing what they could to injure
each other, and in this way it was hoped to build up themselves.  The board was
fully impressed with the necessity of selecting a good man for wharf-master, as
they were well assured that some hard fighting must be done, and to encourage
the wharf-master to do his work thoroughly they offered him twenty-five per cent
on all collections.  His administration proved to be a success, but not without
some severe tussles with the boatmen.  Since then wharfage has been a
considerable item in the revenues of the city, but the victory was not won until
May, 1842.  At this time—when the water in the river was low—about 500 boats
were lying at the Memphis landing at one time.  Among them was one commanded by
a noted desperado named Trester.  He was going to see whether the wharf-master
at Memphis was to have his own way, and to test the matter armed himself with a
big club, which he trimmed so that the limbs stuck out about one-half an inch
from the stem.  When the wharf-master appeared before him in the regular
performance of his duty Trester exclaimed: “Who are you?”  “The wharf-master,”
was the reply.  Grasping his stick Trester exclaimed: “Do you see this?  I cut
this on purpose for you and I am going to use it on you if you show yourself
here while I remain, and if you don’t leave quickly I will give it to you now. I
am the master of this wharf.”  As Tester was cheered on by a considerable crowd,
the wharf-master thought it prudent to withdraw.  Obtaining a warrant from the
mayor, he got the town constable, G. B. Locke, to attempt to serve it. “I have a
warrant for you,” said the constable.  “And I have one for you,” said Trester,
advancing with his big stick.  A crowd of boatmen soon collected, and the two
officers thought it best to again withdraw.  They soon returned, however, with
Capt. E. F. Ruth of the Guards with ten or twelve of his men, well armed.
Trester and his men now attempted to escape, but as his two boats were heavily
loaded he could not keep out of the way of the small flat which carried the
small company of Guards in pursuit.  An attempt was made to board Trester’s
boat, but his heavy club came down with such force on the wharf-master as to lay
him sprawling on the flat.  Capt. Ruth, Constable Locke and another man tried to
board the boat, but were each knocked down, when some one called out to the
Guards: “Fire! Fire!” which order was obeyed by four of the soldiers, and
Trester fell dead upon the deck.  After this, though with considerable
difficulty, the rest of the boatmen were taken prisoners.  In course of time a
board of magistrates upon investigation fully justified everything that had been
done to enforce the law, and this was the last resistance to the collection of
wharfage.



The unhealthfulness of Memphis previous to 1880, or rather the frequent
recurrence of severe epidemics previous to that time, and its comparative
healthfulness since then, have attracted wide attention throughout the country.
So far as official records show, the first epidemic from which Memphis suffered
was in 1851, when ninety-three deaths occurred from cholera.  Yellow fever
visited the city in each of the four following years, but from 1856 to 1865
inclusive there are no official records.  In 1866 there were over 400 deaths
from cholera.  In 1867 yellow fever and cholera both prevailed, the number of
deaths from the former being 259.  In 1873 yellow fever was officially announced
in Memphis on September 14, though a number of deaths had previously occurred
from the disease, which was not recognized by the physicians until that date.
The last case occurred in November, and the entire number of deaths from the
fever that year was officially reported as 1,244.



But the most terrible experience from this dread scourge was reserved for the
city to undergo in 1878, when 17,600 persons suffered from the disease, of whom
5,150 died, the ratio of mortality to cases being one to three and three-tenths
of those taken sick.  The population of the city was believed then by those best
informed to be 19,600.  There were three patent cases for this great epidemic:
First, the filthy condition of the city; second, the extreme heat of that
summer; and third, the feverish excitement of the public mind which had existed
through a period of twenty years because of the changing conditions of political
life.  Notwithstanding the previous epidemics the controlling authorities of the
city either had not learned wisdom, or were not in a position to render
practical the wisdom they had learned.  The first case of yellow fever which
occurred in 1878 was that of a colored man, on July 21.  A young man, Willie
Darby, was taken sick July 25, but neither of these cases proved fatal.  The
first case officially recognized was on August 2, and the first death appears to
have been that of Mrs. Zack, on August 5.  The following cases were reported on
August 12: A son of G. B. Clarke, Mattie L. Isaacs, Roger Jones, J. W. Kearnes,
George Mitchell (colored), Katie Neighbors, Mrs. Jennie White and Jung  Yung
Tah.  Twenty-two new cases were reported on the 15th, and the fear of the
plague, already great, received a new impetus, and caused large numbers to seek
relief in flight.  Thirty-three new cases were reported on the 16th, and the
entire population was precipitated into an indescribable panic.  In numerous
cases self preservation proved in reality to be the first law of nature.  In the
first forty-eight hours fifty-five victims fell, and considering the experience
of 1873, it is not to be wondered at that almost every one who could do so, by
any and all means of conveyance, and even on foot, in all directions and to all
conceivable points, sought safety in flight.  By the 24th of August 25,000
people had left the city, and in two weeks more 5,000 additional ones were in
camp in the vicinity.  But the panic was over by the last week in August.  All
had gone who could get away, and there were in the city about 3,000 cases of
fever.  The temperature during August averaged 82.2 degrees; in September, 72
degrees; in October, 60.8 degrees and in November 57.8 degrees, being from 1
degree to 8 degrees higher than during the same months in 1873.  This long
continued heat, combined with the fearful strain upon the nervous system,
drained the vital energies of the citizens to such an extent that it was next to
impossible for any human being to escape the dread disease.



Not more than 200 white people escaped the fever, and most of the had had it
before.  If there were, as there were, many cases of apparent and real
selfishness, there were also many, and perhaps many more, cases of noble self-
abnegation and devotion, in the face of almost certain death, every one of which
is worthy of perpetual remembrance.  Of the resident physicians who died at the
post of duty and of honor were the following: V. W. Avent, A. J. Armstrong, P.
D. Beecher, S. R. Clarke, S. R. Dawson, P. M. Dickerson, John H. Erskine, W. R.
Hodges, H. R. Hopson, Dr. Ingalls, W. R. Lowry, Paul H. Otey, J. M. Rogers, W.
H. Robins, John C. Rogers, P. K. Watson and J. W. Woodward.  Volunteer
physicians from abroad who died were the following: From Tennessee—T. W. Bond,
Brownsville; O. D. Bartholonew and T. W. Menees, Nashville; John B. Hicks,
Murfreesboro; T. H. McGregor, Tipton County; R. B. Montgomery, Chattanooga. From
Alabama—J. S. Stevenson, Bankson.  From Ohio—R. Burcham, Hiram M. Pierce, P.
Tuerk and R. H. Tate, Cincinnati.  From Georgia—L. A. Chevis, Savannah.  From
Arkansas—E. T. Easley, Little Rock; F. H. Force, Hot Springs, and L. B. Harlan.
From Texas—J. G. Forbes, Round Rock, and—Heady, Sherman.  From Indiana—J. O. G.
Gorrell, Ft. Wayne, and J. G. Renner, Indianapolis.  From New York—M. T.
Keating.  From St. Louis—J. W. McKim, Dr. Nelson and P. G. Nugent.  From
Kentucky—W. C. Mead, Hopkinsville and R. B. Williams, Woodburn.  From
Louisiana—Dr. Smith, Shreveport and R. B. Fort.



The priesthood, both Catholic and Protestant, was characterized by most
admirable earnestness and devotion, as were likewise the sisters of the various
orders.  The names of the Catholic clergy who died were the following: Revs.
Martin Walsh, M. Meagher, Father Asinus, Father Maternus, J. R. McGarney from
Harrodsburg, Ky.; J. A. Boekel, Baltimore; Rev. Vantroostenburg, Kentucky; J. P.
Seawell, Louisville, Ky.; Rev. M. Riordan and Father Marley.  The nuns who died
were Mother Alphonso; Sisters Rose, Josepha, Bernardine, Mary Dolora, Mary
Veronica, Wilhelmina, Vincent, Stanislaus, Gertrude and Winkelmen, the latter of
St. Louis.  The Protestant ministers who died were Revs. Mr. Parsons, Mr.
Schuyler, Mr. Thomas, Mr. Moody, A. F. Bailey, E. C. Slater, David R. S.
Rosebrough, P. T. Scruggs, Victor Bath and S. C. Arnold with his wife and child.



The Citizens’ Relief Committee, the Howard Association and the police all
labored heroically in the performance of the most unpleasant but the most sacred
duty—the nursing of the sick and the preservation of order and of life.  The
Citizens’ Relief Committee was burdened with the greatest responsibility, in
caring for and distributing the supplies sent with such a prodigal hand from all
parts of the world.  As showing the magnitude of the work entrusted to their
hands, which was performed with the most scrupulous honesty and fidelity, the
following summary of donations to Memphis is introduced:

Arkansas contributed $6,690.37; Arizona, $5; Alabama, $6,281.45; California,
$29,047.30; Colorado, $3,950.95; Connecticut, $5,070.28; Dakota, $663.50;
Delaware, $41.02; Florida $1,516.83; Georgia, $11,414.34; Illinois, $52,307.60;
Indiana, $13,787.69; Indian Territory, $5; Iowa, $6,407.58; Kansas, $6,559.67;
Kentucky, $8,810.52; Louisiana, $1,427.15; Maine, $817; Maryland, $495.98;
Massachusetts, $3,964.28; Minnesota, $2,651.77; Mississippi, $727.65; Missouri,
$16,891.37; Michigan, $11,200.43; Montana, $987; miscellaneous sources,
$9,607.18; Nebraska, $4,509.41; Nevada, $1,374.94; New Hampshire, $1,607.50; New
Jersey, $3,983.67; New Mexico, $134.30; New York, $56,804.16; North Carolina,
$7,190.76; Ohio, $26,020.72; Oregon, $2,514; Pennsylvania, $11,770.33; Rhode
Island, $6,513; South Carolina, $6,039.66; Texas, $11,400.30; Tennessee,
$23,847.97; Utah Territory, $2,774.70; Virginia, $9,524.55; Vermont, $829.31;
Washington, D.C., $1,775.30; West Virginia, $2,990.55; Wisconsin, $10,592.57;
Wyoming, $875.75; a grand total of $400,412.54.  The entire amount received by
the South in 1878 from all parts of the world on account of the yellow fever was
$4,548,703.  



Under the new form of government called the “Taxing District,” the board of
health was organized in February, 1879, which as soon as practicable commenced
the work of sanitation, though for various reasons much valuable time was
consumed without accomplishing much for the city’s good.  Upon the subsidence of
the epidemic of 1878 the sanitary condition of the city was worse than it had
ever been, and as six months had been suffered to pass without anything being
done, the new board found its hands more than full, though in five weeks from
the time of commencing the work the surface cleaning of all the streets, alleys
and public grounds had been completed at a cost of $2,449 and a garbage service
instituted to prevent similar accumulations.  The citizens themselves also
accomplished more sanitary work than they had ever done before, impressed with
the necessity of doing something to prevent the return of the plague.  But in
July, 1879, the fever reappeared in spite of all that had been done, which
seemed to demonstrate the possibility of its holding over from one summer to
another despite the cold of the intervening winter.  The first case occurred on
the 9th of the month, known as the Mulbraden case, and the Ray and Tobin cases
occurred very soon afterward.  The exodus of the people for the next few days
was very large, not more than about 1,500 unacclimated remaining; and when the
Hester cases were reported the flight began again.  It was considered with
apparently the best of reason, by Dr. T. J. Tyner of Memphis, in a paper read by
him at Nashville, on the “Etiology of Yellow Fever,” that the chief causes for
its appearance in Memphis were the privy vault system, many of which, dug to the
depth of forty feet, had not been emptied of their accumulated excreta for from
ten to forty years; and he also said that the cistern water was contaminated by
seepage from these vaults.  The work of emptying the vaults went on very slowly.
There were 6,000 of them in use, 3,668 of which were in a very foul condition,
and a very large number of unused vaults, the contents of which only imperfectly
covered with a thin layer of ashes.  Three thousand five hundred and eight
cisterns were within contaminating distance of these vaults, and the cisterns
furnished the most of the water consumed.



The first death in 1879 occurred July 9, at No. 204 De Soto Street.  Three cases
occurred at one house, No. 425 Wellington Street, and two at No. 55 Bradford
Street, the latter being about a mile from either of the other two.  One death
occurred at each place about the same time.  At the outbreak of this epidemic
the population of the city was estimated at 40,000, and at the close of the
month of July there were living in the city but 16,110 persons.  Two thousand
two hundred and fifty-four went to the various camps in the vicinity, and the
rest to various points at a distance by rail, river and other means of
transportation.  In order to prevent the spreading of the disease, every article
of baggage was fumigated with sulphuric acid gas for three hours in a close
room, and the mails were subjected to a similar treatment.  In this work,
including the infected houses, rooms, etc., there were consumed thirty-four
barrels of sulphur, and about 1,200 pounds of sulphate of zinc.  Nine thousand
privy vaults were disinfected during the continuance of the epidemic, one or
more times, 19,581 visits being made.  In this work, 9,343 barrels of lime,
135,250 gallons of zinc solution, and 212,000 pounds of sulphate of iron were
used.  Of the sixty or more laborers, mostly colored, employed in this
disinfecting process, but few had had the fever, not one was attacked with the
disease.  The disinfection of infected houses, bedding and wearing apparel was
also pursued to such an extent that 2,383 articles, embracing one flatboat,
three houses, two bedsteads, and every description of bed clothing and wearing
apparel, were consumed by fire.  On the 29th of July a census of the people
showed 4,283 white people, and 11,287 colored people, of whom 9,743 had had the
fever before.  An important feature of sanitation was the emptying and filling
up of privy vaults, 1,644 of which were thus treated, and the destruction of
houses and other buildings which were in an unsanitary condition, 138 of these
being destroyed in 1879.  The expense of this work was $21,584.62.  The deaths
from yellow fever in 1879 were as follows: whites 391, colored 106, total 497.
The number of cases was 860 whites, 680 colored, total number of cases 1,540.



Commencing in 1875 the death rate for five years for Memphis, excluding
mortality from yellow fever, was 34 per 1,000, estimating the population at
35,000.  In 1880 the death rate for the whites was 20.38, and for the colored
people was 32.55.  In 1881 the death for the whites was 30.22 and for the
colored 44.77.  In 1882 it was for the whites 14.85, and for the blacks 39.45.
In 1883, estimating the population at 62,335, the death rate for the whites was
15.19 and for the blacks, 35.83.  In 1884 it was for the whites 18.80; for the
blacks, 41.66; and for 1885, it was for the whites 16.56, and for the blacks,
36.96.  But this excessive negro mortality is not peculiar to Memphis.  The same
general facts are noticeable in Nashville, Chattanooga and other southern
cities.  Investigation by the best physicians into the causes for this excessive
mortality among the negro population, shows that consumption and pneumonia play
an important part toward the production of this high death rate as do debility,
marasmus, dentition, inanition and premature births.  Lung diseases are
accounted for by the exposed and improvident life led by the colored people. And
it is further noticeable that both the young and old among them are more liable
to die than the same classes among the whites.  This is fully accounted for by
the general poverty of the race as yet, and the want of care in many cases where
such proper care might be given, but is not, because of the looseness of family
ties among them.  The wonderful improvement made since 1879, in the sanitary
condition of Memphis, is summarized under the head “Taxing District,” elsewhere.



South Memphis was incorporated January 6, 1846, and an election for mayor and
eight aldermen was held on the third Saturday of the same month, resulting in
the election of Sylvester Bailey, mayor, and A. B. Shaw, H. H. Menus, George W.
Davis, W. Howard, J. E. Merriman, John Brown, J. P. Keiser and James Kennedy,
aldermen.  The boundaries of South Memphis were defined as follows: On the east,
south and west the boundaries are the same as the South Memphis tract, and on
the north the boundary line commences in the center of the Mississippi River,
opposite the rise of Union Street; thence east with the center of Union Street,
as at present laid off until the same intersects with the Pigeon Roost road;
thence with the south side of Pigeon Roost road to the east line of the South
Memphis tract of land.  On September 4, South Memphis was divided into four
wards.  The treasurer for the first corporate year made a report showing that
the revenue amounted to $6,266.17, and licenses, etc., to $3,750.50.  John T.
Trezevant was mayor in 1847-48 and A. B. Taylor in 1849.  The last meeting of
the mayor and aldermen of South Memphis took place December 31, 1849.



Memphis was incorporated by act of the Legislature of Tennessee, December 9,
1826, as the town of Memphis.  The substance of this charter was as follows:
Section 1 incorporated the town and conferred upon it its name as above. Section
2 gave the town authorities power to pass all kinds of needful legislation for
the government of and the preservation of the health of the town.  Section 3
required the sheriff of the county to hold an election on the first Saturday of
March, 1827, and on the same day in every subsequent year, for members of the
board of aldermen; at which election any person holding a freehold in the town,
who was entitled to vote for members of the General Assembly, should be
qualified to vote for mayor and aldermen.  Section 4 is rather curious in its
grammatical construction.  It reads “that the seven persons having the highest
number of votes at any election shall be taken to be elected, and the sheriff of
said county shall within two days thereafter, and a majority being present,
shall proceed to elect a mayor from their own body for said corporation for the
time the aldermen were elected.”



This charter did not reach Memphis until after the first Saturday of March,
1827, and the election for aldermen, which according to its provisions should
have been held on that day, was not held until April 26 following.  The members
of this first board, elected on April 26, were Joseph L. Davis, John Hooke, N.
B. Atwood, John R. Dougherty, George F. Graham, William D. Neely and M. B.
Winchester.  The first meeting of this body was held May 9.  The certificate of
election was presented as follows:

We, the undersigned, being judges of an election, opened and held at the old
courthouse in the town of Memphis, on the 26th day of April, 1827, for the
purpose of electing seven persons to serve as aldermen for the said town of
Memphis, do certify that upon counting out the votes M. B. Winchester, Joseph L.
Davis, John Hooke, N. B. Atwood, George F. Graham, John R. Dougherty and William
D. Neely were duly elected.

Nathan Anderson.

Isaac Rawlings.

S. R. Brown, Sheriff.                                    A. Rapel.



At this first meeting M. B. Winchester was elected mayor by the board in
accordance with the requirements of the charter, and the first resolution passed
was that it was important to the interests of Memphis that ordinances be passed.
Notice was given that on May 12 an election would be held for treasurer,
recorder and town constable, the election when held resulting in the choice of
Isaac Rawlings for treasurer; Joseph L. Davis, recorder and John K. Balch, town
constable.



On the 30th of May the Board of Mayor and Aldermen had some difficulty over the
question of the legality of their organization.  They had been elected on the
26th of April, instead of on the first Saturday of March, as required by he
charter.  But after a sufficient amount of discussion and subtle logic had been
brought to bear upon the question, the board themselves finally decided the
question in their own favor, by the following process of reasoning: That the
charter did not reach Memphis until after the first Saturday of March; it was
evidently the intention of the Legislature that the corporation should be
organized during the current year; that the judges held the election legal and
the sheriff had so certified; hence it was declared proper on the part of the
board that they consider themselves a legal body and proceed to business to pass
the ordinances needed by the new town.



The first ordinances passed related to the classification of property, into
taxable and non-taxable, the following being ordained to bear their proper share
of the public burdens: All town lots; all free males between the ages of twenty-
one and fifty; all slaves between the ages of twelve and fifty; wholesale and
retail stores, including medicine stores; peddlers and hawkers; tavern-keepers;
retailers of spirits; stud horses and jacks.  Taxes were levied in the following
proportions: improved lots with buildings, 10 cents on the $100; unimproved
lots, 10 cents; each free male inhabitant, 25 cents; each slave, 25 cents; each
wholesale and retail store, $8; each trading boat, peddler, or hawker, $10; each
lawyer or doctor practicing for profit, $2; each tavern-keeper $3; each retailer
of spirits without tavern license, $10.



The limits of the corporation were fixed by the ordinance as follows: “Beginning
at the intersection of Wolf River with the Mississippi River; thence with Wolf
River to the mouth of Bayou Gayoso; thence with said bayou to the county bridge;
thence with the line of the second alley east of and parallel with Second Street
to Union Street; thence at right angles to Second Street to the western boundary
of the tract of land entered to John Rice by grant No. 283, dated April 25,
1789; thence with the said western boundary up the Mississippi River to the Wolf
River.”



The editor of the Memphis Advocate was then chosen public printer and the
recorder elect was required to give bonds in the sum of $500 and the treasurer
in double the sum liable to come into his hands during the current year.  Other
ordinances were passed which the curious may find in the public records, and all
were signed by all the members of the board, including M. B. Winchester, mayor.



On October 17, $80 was set apart for the improvement of Chickasaw Street and
$120 for a wharf from high to low water mark at the lowest steamboat landing. On
May 19, 1828, David Banks was elected constable, and the office of town surveyor
established.  January 16, 1829, a superintendent of the graveyard was provided
for.  At the second election for mayor, M. B. Winchester was again selected, the
other aldermen being Samuel Douglass, William A. Hardy, John D. Graham, Augustus
L. Humphrey, Joseph L. Davis and Robert Fearn.  On the 4th of March, 1829, Isaac
Rawlings was elected mayor, by a vote of four to three of the board, and he was
again elected in March, 1830.  On the 16th of August following, the town was
divided into three wards as follows: Ward No. 1 comprised all that part of
Memphis northeast of a direct line from the Mississippi River to Overton Street,
thence with said street to the Bayou Gayoso; Ward No. 2, all that part of
Memphis south of the aforementioned line to Overton Street, to Bayou Gayoso, and
northeast of a direct line from the Mississippi to Winchester Street and thence
with Winchester Street to the eastern boundary of the town; Ward No. 3, all that
part of Memphis south of the last mentioned line.



In March, 1831, Seth Wheatley was elected mayor, and Robert Lawrence in 1832.
Isaac Rawlings was then elected mayor for three consecutive years.  Enoch Banks
was elected in 1836 and 1838, John H. Morgan intervening in 1837.  On August 6,
1838, a board of health was appointed as follows: Drs. Christian, Sappington,
Frazier, Hickman, Dewitt, Mabry and Shanks.  The extent of the business
transacted by the corporation at this time is indicated by the receipts and
disbursements of the treasurer for 1838, the former being $5,957.48, and the
latter $5,452.95.  In March, 1839, Thomas Dixon was elected mayor, and on the
4th of March, that year, a list of the taxable property of the town and the
taxes thereon was as follows: 471 town lots, valued at $587,400, taxes thereon
$2,950; 152 slaves, value $91,800, taxes $223.50; five carriages, taxes $20, and
231 white polls, taxes $231.  The reader of the general history will remember
that the constitution of 1834 disfranchised the free colored men, hence at this
time there was no poll tax except upon white polls.  Thomas Dixon was again
elected mayor in March, 1840, and on the 25th of April the Legislature passed an
act changing the title of the place from the town of Memphis to the city of
Memphis.  The tax list for this year was as follows: 499 lots, value $552,425,
taxes $4,143.18 ¾; 221 slaves, value $107,500, taxes, $268.75; 324 white polls,
$324; 6 carriages, $24.  In March, 1841, William Spickernagle was elected mayor.
All the previous incumbents of this office appear to have served their city
without a salary, but now the town having become a city, the aldermen at last
began to think that his duties had become sufficiently valuable and onerous to
deserve a pecuniary compensation, and to learn whether this sentiment was also
entertained by the people, it was resolved on the 15th of September, that the
recorder be required to ascertain as nearly as possible the sense of the people
on the subject of giving the mayor a salary and to inform the board at the next
meeting.  The sense of the people appears also to have been in favor of the
salary, for on the 12th of November, 1841, it was resolved that the mayor be
paid a salary of $500 per annum, “from the 15th of September last.”



On the 5th of February, 1842, an act was passed to amend the charter of the city
of Memphis, by which the city was divided into five wards and each ward entitled
to elect two aldermen, who, with the mayor, were required to prescribe the
limits of the wards.  The power to elect the mayor was now conferred upon the
people.  In March, 1842, Edwin Hickman was elected mayor, and also in 1843 and
1844; in 1845, J. J. Finley; in 1846, Edwin Hickman; in 1847 Enoch Banks, and in
1848, Gardner B. Locke.  At the popular election held on March 4, the candidates
and votes for the office of mayor were Enoch Banks, 356; Gardner B. Locke, 356;
E. Hickman, 87; James Seawell, 80, and W. F. Fannehill, 61.  On the 11th of
March, Mayor Banks still presiding, the salary of the mayor for the twenty-
second corporate year was fixed at $1,000, and on the 13th the board went into
an election for mayor on account of the tie in the popular vote, on the second
ballot electing Gardner B. Locke, he receiving six votes, a majority of the
entire board.



An act was passed January 21, 1848, reducing all the charters of Memphis into
one act or charter.  By this charter the limits of the city were thus defined:
Beginning at a point in the middle of the Mississippi River opposite to the
center of Union Street; thence eastwardly with a line passing through the center
of Union Street, to the western bank of Bayou Gayoso; thence down said bayou
with the western bank of the same to the point of its intersection with Wolf
River; thence down Wolf River with its northwesterly bank to its intersection
with the Mississippi River; thence down the Mississippi River to a point
opposite the north side of Market Street; thence to a point in the main channel
of the Mississippi River opposite to the said north side of Market Street, and
thence down the said main channel of the said river to the beginning.”  The
mayor and aldermen, two from each ward, were to constitute a city council, each
alderman to be a bona fide resident of Memphis, and all to be elected by the
qualified voters of the city.  The tax levy was limited to three-fourths of one
per cent upon all property taxable for State purposes, and the city council was
given authority to borrow money to the amount of the annual revenue of the city,
and no more in any one year, to establish hospitals, to establish a system of
free schools and to regulate the same in such manner as to avoid sectarian
influence, and to create an annual fund not exceeding one-eighth part of the
annual revenue of the city for their support.



On the 21st of February, 1849, the ward boundaries were rearranged as follows,
because the city was growing more toward the south, and the southern portion was
not adequately represented: Ward one—all north of Jackson Street; Ward two—all
between Jackson and Market Streets; Ward three—all between Market Street and
Market Place alley; Ward four—all between Market Place alley and Carr’s alley;
Ward five—all between the Fourth Ward and Finley alley; Ward six—all the
remainder of the city north.



An election for mayor and twelve aldermen was held March 5, 1849, at which Enoch
Banks received 462 votes, “more than was received by any other candidate.”  The
corporate year lasted from March, 1849, to July, 1850.  On May 22, the city
council passed an ordinance defining taxable property and levying taxes as
follows: Taxable property—real estate, slaves, pleasure carriages, piano fortes,
gold and silver plate, watches and jewelry, and capital loaned or deposited at
interest; taxes to be three-fourths of one per cent for general purposes, and an
additional annual tax of one-eighth of three-fourths of one per cent for the
support of schools; upon all free white males qualified to vote in the city of
Memphis a poll tax of $1.50 for general purposes, and an additional tax of 19
cents for school purposes.  Exemptions were as follows: property used for
religious, educational or hospital purposes; that belonging to the United
States, to Tennessee, to Shelby County and to Memphis, to any regular organized
fire company, all slaves under twelve and over fifty years of age, and all
others incapable of rendering service to their masters.  Ministers of the Gospel
and free white persons in the army of the United States were exempt from poll
tax.  Privilege taxes were provided in various sums according to the business
followed, and an additional tax of one-eighth of the privilege tax was levied in
each case for the benefit of the free schools.



E. Hickman was elected mayor in 1850 and 1851, and A. B. Taylor in 1852, 1853
and 1854.  In 1855 A. H. Douglas was elected over James Wickersham by 745 votes
to 607.  In 1856 Thomas B. Carroll was elected, receiving 973 votes to 583 for
A. H. Douglas.  In 1857 R. D. Baugh was elected, receiving 827 votes to 619 for
Samuel F. Magen.  In 1858 Mr. Baugh was again elected by 1,187 votes to 843 cast
for George Dixon and 307 for John Martin.  In 1859, R. D. Baugh received 1,139
votes, John Park 1,039, and J. B. R. _______ 563.  Mr. Baugh was again elected
in 1860, but the record of the vote is missing.  John Park was chosen mayor in
1861, 1862, and 1863, receiving in the latter year 1,553 votes to Charles
Kortrecht’s 670, but previous to the time for the qualification of officers
chosen at an election in 1864 the city was placed under martial law.  Following
are the several orders under which the civil government was for the time being
set aside

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE.

MEMPHIS, TENN., July 2, 1864

Special Order No. 70:

I. The utter failure of the municipal government of Memphis for the past two
years to discharge its proper functions, the disloyal character of that
government, its want of sympathy for the Government of the United States, and
its indisposition to co-operate with the military authorities have long been
felt as evils which the public welfare required to be abated. They have grown
from bad to worse, until a further toleration of them will not comport with the
sense of duty of the commanding general. The city of Memphis is under martial
law, and the municipal government existing since the armed traitors were driven
from the city has been only by sufferance of the military authorities of the
United States. Therefore, under the authority of General Orders, No. 100, dated
War Department, Adjutant-General’s office, April 24, 1863.

It is ordered, that the functions of the municipal government of Memphis be and
they are hereby suspended until further orders.

The present incumbents are forbidden to perform any official acts or exercise
any authority whatever; and persons supposed to be elected officers of the city
at an election held on June 30, 1864, will not qualify. That the interests and
business of the city may not be interrupted, the following appointments of
officers are made:

Acting mayor, Lieut.-Col. Thomas H. Harris, assistant adjutant-general United
States Volunteers; recorder, F. W. Buttinghaus; treasurer, James D. Davis,
comptroller, W. O. Lofland; tax-collector, F. L. Warner; tax-collector on
privileges, John Logue; chief of police, P. M. Winters, and wharf-master, J. J.
Butler, who will be fully respected in the exercise of the duties assigned them;
and all records, papers, moneys, and property in any manner pertaining to the
offices, government and interests of the city of Memphis, will be immediately
turned over by the present holders thereof to the officers appointed to succeed
them, etc.

The officers herein named and appointed will constitute a board, which shall
discharge the duties heretofore devolving upon the board of aldermen, and the
acting mayor shall be chairman thereof, and their acts, resolutions and
ordinances shall be valid and of full force and effect until revoked by the
commanding general of the district of West Tennessee, or superior military
authority.

By order of                                          Maj. Gen. C. C. Washburn.

W. H. Morgan, Asst. Adj.-Gen.

Official: W. H. Morgan, Asst. Adj.-Gen.

XIII. L. R. Richards is hereby appointed register of the city of Memphis and a
member of the board, constituted by Special Order No. 70, part I, of this date
from these headquarters.

By order of                                         Maj.-Gen. C. C. Washburn.

W. H. Morgan, Asst. Adj.-Gen.

To Lieut.-Col. Harris, A.A. Gen. and Acting Mayor.



On the 16th of July, 1864, Special Order No. 83 were issued, so far modifying
Special Order No. 70, as to constitute a council to discharge the duties of the
board of mayor and aldermen.  They were to be known as the Provisional Mayor and
Council of the city of Memphis.  Following are their names:

First Ward—J. P. Foster, Andrew Renkert.

Second Ward—G. D. Johnson, S. T. Morgan.

Third Ward—B. F. C. Brooks, A. J. Miller.

Fourth Ward—I. M. Hill, J. G. Owen.

Fifth Ward—W. S. Bruce, William W. Jones.

Sixth Ward—J. E. Merriman, C. C. Smith.

Seventh Ward—G. P. Ware, Joseph Tagg.

Eighth Ward—Patrick Sherry, H. T. Hulbert.



On the 28th of July, E. T. Morgan was appointed city attorney for the city of
Memphis, and on the 12th of August, J. P. Foster was appointed chief of police,
vice P. M. Winters, relieved; Henry G. Smith was appointed councilman, vice J.
P. Foster, and J. B. Wetherill was appointed councilman, vice W. S. Bruce,
resigned; on the 6th of September W. M. Farrington was appointed alderman in
place of A. J. Miller, deceased.  This was the last order issued here by Maj.
Gen. C. C. Washburn, and on the 4th of October, Brig.-Gen. Morgan L. Smith
issued Special Order No. 159, by which W. R. Moore was appointed councilman vice
H. G. Smith, resigned.  On the 19th of October Lieut.-Col. Harris was relieved
as acting mayor, and Capt. Channing Richards, of the Twenty-second Ohio
Volunteers appointed, and on July 3, 1865, Special Order No. 70 and Special
Order No 83, were revoked, the officers appointed by them were commanded to
cease to exercise their functions, and to turn over to the officers elect all
books and papers pertaining to their several offices.  This revoking order was
signed by Maj.-Gen. John E. Smith.



The officers elect referred to above were in part as follows: mayor, John Park,
who had received 1,356 votes to W. O. Lofland’s 835; recorder, John C.
Creighton, 1,049, to Sam Tighe’s 368, and chief of police, B. G. Garrett, 1,021
to Dan McMahon’s 920.  By default of an election John Park continued to serve as
mayor until October 15, 1866, when W. O. Lofland, elected October 13, 1866, was
qualified and served until January 1868.  John W. Leftwich was then elected and
served until 1870, when John Johnson was elected and served through the years
1870-73.  John Logue was elected in 1874 and served two year, when he was
succeeded by John R. Flippin, who was elected in 1876 by 5,909 votes to John
Logue’s 1,564, and was the last mayor Memphis has had.



In 1879 Memphis was in very bad shape financially as well as otherwise.  Her
credit was entirely gone and she was bankrupt.  This state of things had been
brought about in part by very bad management on the part of her municipal
government, and in part by the terrible scourges to which she had been
subjected.  By the yellow fever epidemic of 1878, following close on the heels
of that of 1873, the city had been almost depopulated of its white citizens, and
she was encumbered by an enormous debt, a statement of which is here introduced:
6 per cent Post Bonds, $2,426,000; 6 per cent Paving Bonds, $743,500; 6 per cent
School Bonds, $95,000; 6 per cent Mississippi River Railroad Bonds, $80,000; 6
per cent Funding Bonds, $341,000; 10 per cent School Bonds, $20,000; other 10
per cent bonds, $5,000; total bonded debt, $3,710,500; floating debt, embracing
innumerable items, $2,074,872.67; total debt, $5,785,372.67.  The assets of the
city at the same time amounted to $2,194,639.07, leaving the city’s net
indebtedness, supposing the entire assets to be available, $3,590,733.60.  Most
of the citizens felt sure, and in fact knew, that much of this enormous
indebtedness had been unjustly created, and were desirous of devising some means
by which they could be relieved of its payment.  The idea of a “taxing district”
was conceived and put into operation as an experiment.  It was not because of
anything intrinsically corrupt in the old form of municipal government, that a
change was sought and effected.  No form of government can be in and of itself
corrupt.  But one form of government may furnish opportunities for corruption
and be of necessity more expensive and burdensome than another, and this is
really the difference between the old form of government of Memphis and the
taxing district.  The taxing district has no authority to levy taxes, this
authority being vested in the Legislature.  Then under the charter granted in
1869, a council was created, consisting of ten aldermen and twenty councilmen, a
form of government almost cumbersome enough for a State.  The act creating the
taxing district was passed January 29, 1879, and approved January 31.  It
consists of twenty-five sections, providing that cities might form taxing
districts in certain cases.  It said that the several communities embraced in
the territorial limits of all the municipal corporations in this State, which
had or might have their charters abolished, or such as might surrender them,
under the provisions of that act were by it created taxing districts, in order
to provide local government for the peace, safety and general welfare of such
districts, and that the necessary taxes for the support of such local government
should be imposed by the General Assembly of the State and not otherwise.  This
act provided for:

1. A board of fire and police commissioners.  2. A legislative council of the
taxing district, consisting of the commissioners of the fire and police board,
and the supervisors of the board of public works.  3. A board of health to
consist of the chief of police, a health officer, and a physician.  4. A board
of public works.

The board of fire and police commissioners was to consist of three commissioners
at least thirty years of age, and tax-paying citizens of the district, for at
least five years.  One of these was to be appointed by the governor of the
State, and to be president of the taxing district, and was to devote his entire
time to the duties of his office at a salary of $2,000 per year.  In the act a
wharfage tax was provided for as follows: All steamboats, barges, and hulls used
as barges, were to pay 5 cents per ton, which should entitle them to the
privilege of the wharf and landing for six days, and 2 cents per ton per day for
each day they remain after the expiration of the six days, the county trustee to
collect the tax.



The first government of the taxing district was composed of D. T. Porter,
president, John Overton, Jr., and W. W. Gay, until the death of Mr. Gay, when M.
Burke was appointed to fill the vacancy which lasted from 1879 until the end of
the first half of 1881.  From this time until January, 1882, the government was
composed of John Overton, Jr., president, M. Burke and R. C. Graves.  In
January, 1882, the officers of the taxing district were all elected as they have
been ever since, being David P. Hadden, president, M. Burke and R. C. Graves. In
1883 they were David P. Hadden, president, M. Burke and James Lee, Jr.  The
third government consisted of David P. Hadden, president, James Lee, Jr., and H.
A. Montgomery, and the fourth elected in January, 1866, was the same.



The first board of public works of the taxing district was composed of C. W.
Goyer, John Gunn, R. Galloway, J. M. Goodbar and M. Burke, until Mr. Burke was
appointed to the city government, when W. N. Brown was appointed to this board.
The present board is as follows: R. F. Patterson, J. E. Randle, Q. J. Graham,
Charles Kuey and Symmes Wallace.



The president of the board of health has been G. B. Thornton, M.D., ever since
the organization of the district.  P. R. Athy was chief of police up to 1880,
when he was elected sheriff; since then W. C. Davis has been chief of police. M.
McFadden was chief of the fire department until his death in 1882, since when J.
E. Cleary has filled the position.  The city attorneys have been C. W. Heiskell,
1879-84, and S. P. Walker, 1884-1887.  Niles Meriwether has been city engineer
from 1879 to the present time, and P. Kallaher, wharf-master.  The registers
have been W. A. McCloy, 1879; A. P. Tack, 1880; B. K. Pullen, 1881 to September,
1886, and B. K. Pullen, Jr., from September, 1886, to the present time.  The
inspectors of weights and measures have been G. J. Mallory, S. B. De Groat and
J. C. Mhoon, from 1884 to the present time, and as hospital physicians have
served A. A. Lawrence, 1879 to February, 1883, and J. E. Black from February,
1883, to the present time.



*          *          *          *          *          *          *          * *



The first bank organized in Memphis was the Farmers and Merchants Bank, in 1834.
It was located on the corner of Main and Winchester Streets.  About 1840 this
institution erected the building on the corner of Main and Exchange Streets,
afterward used as a synagogue, and about 1850 the same bank erected another
building on Jefferson Street nearly opposite the present Priddy Hotel.



The Branch Union Bank was started in 1839, in a brick building on the northwest
corner of Exchange Square.  In 1852 it removed to the northeast corner of
Madison Street and Front Alley, and in 1853-54 it erected a building on the
opposite corner of the alley, at present occupied by the First National Bank.



The Branch Planters Bank occupied the building south of Cochran Block on Main
Street, about 1842.  It afterward moved into a building on the southwest corner
of Main and Jefferson Streets.  There were also other banks here prior to the
war: the Southern Bank of Tennessee, established September 1, 1853; the
Mechanics Bank, started December 1, 1853; the Branch Bank of Tennessee, the Bank
of West Tennessee, the Bank of Memphis, established September 1, 1853; the
Commercial Bank, established March 1, 1844, and the Citizens Bank, started
December 1, 1853.



The First National Bank was organized in April, 1864, with a capital of
$100,000.  F. A. Davis was the first president and C. P. Norris  the first
cashier.  The capital now is $150,000, and surplus $50,000.  Since it commenced
business it has declared $556,000, in dividends.  At different times it has
carried accounts with all the business men of the city.  Up to 1872 its deposits
generally averaged over $1,000,000.  Since then they have been about $500,000,
and now they are $800,000.  The bank has always been at its present location,
No. 14 Madison Street.  N. M. Jones succeeded F. A. Davis as president in 1882;
N. W. Thatcher became cashier in 1869, and C. W. Schulte in 1882.  One
remarkable fact about banks in Memphis is that since this bank was started
nineteen other banks have failed, three of them national banks.  The strength of
this bank is accounted for by the fact that such firms as the following are
stockholders: Brown & Jones, Brooks, Neely & Co., Hill, Fontaine & Co., and
Oliver, Finnie & Co.



The German National Bank was organized under national charter in 1864, John A.
Ainsley being the first president, succeeded by T. M. Apperson, Louis Hanauer,
Horace E. Gorth and Thomas H. Milburn.  The bank was reorganized in 1885 under
the State law, and its name became the German Bank of Memphis.  Its officers at
present are John W. Cochran, president; W. C. McClure, vice-president; Edward
Goldsmith, cashier; Louis Hanauer, J. T. Pettit, R. C. Graves, J. J. Jenny,
George Arnold, D. P. Hadden, Jacob Weller, J. T. Frost, J. S. Robinson, R. H.
Vance and William Katzenberger.  The capital stock of the bank is $250,000 and
surplus $140,000.  The deposits amount to $872,144.28 and the undivided profits
$28,253.56.



The Union and Planters Bank was organized and commenced business September 1,
1869, with the following directors and officers: William M. Farrington,
president; William A. Williamson, vice-president; S. P. Read, cashier; J. J.
Rawlings, C. B. Church, John Johnson, C. W. Goyer, W. B. Greenlaw, W. B.
Galbreath, Napoleon Hill, A. Vaccaro, Joseph Bruce, Z. N. Estes, M. L. Meacham,
James A. Rogers and Nathan Adams.  The present directors and officers are
Napoleon Hill, president; William A. Williamson, vice-president; S. P. Read,
cashier; A. Vaccaro, Joseph Bruce, R. Dudley, John R. Pepper, E. Ensley,
Benjamin Barr, Isaac N. Snowden and James H. McDonald.  The paid up capital
stock is $600,000, dividend on hand $121,377, deposits, October 26, 1886,
$1,074,125.15.



The State National Bank was organized August 27, 1873, with the following
directors and officers: R. C. Daniel, president; I. B. Kirtland, vice-president;
J. J. Freeman, cashier; T. N. Nelson, J. J. Busby, H. T. Lemmon, H. Cloth, A. J.
White, Hugh Stewart, John P. Hoffman, B. Lowenstein and N. Malatesta.  The
present directors and officers are W. B. Bethel, president; A. B. Gwynn, vice-
president; M. S. Buckingham, cashier; W. J. Chase, R. H. Vance, H. T. Lemmon,
Thomas J. Latham, W. M. Sneed, Gen. Colton Greene, John K. Speed, R. L. Coffin
and Z. N. Estes.  The capital stock of the bank is $250,000, and surplus
$80,000.



The Mercantile Bank commenced business May 21, 1883, with a cash capital of
$200,000.  It has eighty stockholders, all of them representative business men
of Memphis.  In selecting stockholders it was careful not to place itself
outside of those who had business to give it, hoping in this way to make its
stock self-supporting, and the success of the institution is a sufficient
justification of the wisdom of this policy.  During the entire period of its
existence it has distributed to its stockholders each six months a five per cent
cash dividend, and has besides accumulated a surplus of $30,000.  The bank is a
depository of the State of Tennessee.  Following are the names of its directors
and officers: J. R. Godwin, president; J. M. Goodbar, vice-president; C. H.
Raine, cashier; D. T. Porter, A. W. Newson, F. M. Nelson, C. B. Bryan, J. M.
Smith, W. S. Bruce, W. N. Wilkerson, T. B. Sim, John Armistead, H. E. Coffin, R.
T. Cooper, J. W. Falls, M. Gavin, R. J. Black, W. P. Dunavent and Charles Kuey.



Manhatten Savings Bank and Trust Company was organized in July, 1885, with the
following officers: David P. Hadden, president; Edward Goldsmith, vice-
president; James Nathan, cashier.  The present board of trustees are L. Hanauer,
M. Gavin, L. Levy, Napoleon Hill, A. Kenkert, J. A. Omberg, J. G. Handwerker,
Thomas Boyle, David P. Hadden, J. S. Robinson, John W. Cochran, Sol. Coleman,
Hardwig Peres, Edward Goldsmith.  This bank receives sums of $1 and upward, and
allows interest at stated periods, executes orders in stocks, bonds and
securities, sells drafts on all parts of Europe, and executes cable transfers.
The capital stock is $20,000, and surplus $5,000.



The Mechanics Bank was first organized in 1856, with F. M. White, president. The
charter having been kept alive the bank was reorganized in 1886 with $100,000
capital.  The present directors and officers are M. H. Katzenberger, president;
Napoleon Hill, vice-president; J. Katzenberger, cashier; W. H. Carrol, J. H.
Biscoe, A. S. Myers, A. Cohn, J. M. Schorr, A. F. Tobin and John A. Denie.



The Security Bank of Memphis was organized February 1, 1886.  It is a safe
deposit trust company and savings bank, located at No. 42 Madison Street.  The
first directors and officers were C. C. Graham, president; W. M. Wilkerson,
vice-president; R. J. Black, cashier; W. D. Bethell, Thomas H. Allen, S. I.
McDowell, J. R. Godwin, John Overton, Jr., R. Dudley Frayser, S. P. Read, W. F.
Taylor, William A. Williamson and R. B. Snowden.  With the exception of the
president, who is now R. Dudley Frayser, the officers are the same.  This bank
does a general banking business, pays interest on deposits, has a safe deposit
vault, and is a depository of the State.



The Bank of Commerce was established in 1873 with a capital of $200,000, at No.
12 Madison Street.  The presidents of this bank have been E. McDavitt, from 1873
to 1876; J. T. Parkerson, 1876 to 1880; S. H. Dunscomb, 1880 to present time.
Vice-president, John Overton, Jr., for one or two years at first, and then from
1886 to the present time.  Cashiers, R. A. Parker, 1873 to 1879; J. A. Omberg,
1879 to the present time.  The capital of the bank is at present $200,000 with a
surplus of $80,000.



The Hernando Insurance Company, 22 Madison Street, was incorporated in 1850.  It
does a fire and marine insurance business, and has a paid up capital of
$150,000.  Its assets, including capital, amount to $182,000.  S. H. Dunscomb is
president; Joseph Bruce, vice-president; J. S. Dunscomb, secretary, and its
other directors are R. L. Cochran, J. H. McDavitt, F. M. Nelson, L. Hanauer, A.
Vaccaro, J. R. Pepper, W. B. Mallory, N. Fontaine and J. T. Willins.  Originally
only ten per cent was paid in.  After the war the company reorganized and ten
per cent more was paid in, and the stock was all paid up by July 1, 1874, since
which time it has paid from eight to twenty-four per cent to the stockholders
annually.