Page images
PDF
EPUB

the American Printing House for the Blind, with other necessary improvements, all erected at a cost of $110,000. In this printing house are published books and literature in raised letters for the blind in many States of the Union. Under the superintendence of men of ability and experience,

JOHN W. HEADLEY.

the success of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, at Danville, and of the several asylums for the insane have won for these a distinction not less marked than that of the two firstnamed institutions.

The State offices to be filled, by a vote of the people, at the election in August, 1891, and for the last time under the Constitution of 1850, were governor, lieutenant-governor, at' torney-general, auditor, treasurer, register of the land office, superintendent of public instruc

[graphic]

tion, and clerk of the Court of Appeals. For these offices were nominated respectively, by the Democratic party: John Young Brown, M. C. Alford, W. J. Hendrick, L. C. Norman, H. S. Hale, G. B. Swango, E. P. Thompson, and A. Addams. By the Republicans: A. T. Wood, H. E. Huston, T. J. Crawford, Charles Blanford, Eli Farmer, L. I. Dodge, and Robert Blain. By the Prohibitionists: Josiah Harris, H. M. Winslow, E. J. Polk, W. W. Goddard, J. M. Holmes, B. McGregor, A. B. Jones, and R. S. Friend; and by the People's Party: S. B. Erwin, S. F. Smith, B. L. D. Guffy, W. G. Fulkerson, I. G. Sallee, M. Herreld, J. B. Secrist, and W. B. Ogden. The nominees of the Democratic party were elected by popular majorities ranging between twenty-five thousand and thirty thousand votes. The usual installation ceremonies were observed in September, after the election, at the Capitol. This administrative term will be remembered as one of the most important episodes of the history of the Commonwealth. The changes made by the new constitution imposed upon the Legislature the delicate and complex duties of altering and adjusting the statutory laws of the State to the new condition of affairs; upon the judiciary, that of construing the new constitution and laws, and upon the executive, the duties of first enforcement. The General Assembly which convened

THE STATE CENTENNIAL IN 1892.

805

on the last days of December, 1891, continued in session over seven months. On adjournment in August, it was reconvened ten days after, on call of the governor, and was in session several months.

To simplify and facilitate the work of legislation, and in accordance with the provisions of law, the gov

ernor appointed John Carroll, W. C. McChord, and James C. Sims, commissioners to revise the statutes, and to prepare them in form for the action of the General Assembly.

On his accession to office, Governor Brown appointed John W. Headley, secretary of state, and Ed O. Leigh, assistant secretary; A. J. Gross, adjutant-general; W. H. Gardner, inspector of public offices; Nicholas McDowell, commissioner of agriculture, and C. C. McChord, Charles B. Poyntz, and Urey Woodson, railroad commissioners. Mrs. Mary Brown. Day was re-elected librarian.

[graphic]

W. J. HENDRICK.

By a coincidence which happened with no other State in the Union, the centennial of the accession of Kentucky to Statehood as one of the United States, and the discovery of America by Columbus, occurred in the same year, 1892. February 4, 1791, Congress passed the final act of admission, to have effect June 1, 1792; and all the conditions having been complied with, Kentucky formally assumed her sovereignty as a member of the Federal Union on that day. On October 12, 1492, Columbus first sighted the land of America. Eighteen hundred and ninety-two is the first centennial of the birth of our Commonwealth, and the fourth centennial of the discovery. In commemoration of the great event of discovery, the Columbian Exposition was projected on a scale of national magnificence and international magnitude, unequaled in the history of the world, and Chicago selected as the site. The Legislature of Kentucky appropriated one hundred thousand dollars from the public treasury, to have the State duly and appropriately represented on the occasion. In accordance with a provision of the act of appropriation, Governor Brown appointed a commission of five citizens, composed of W. H. Dulaney, J. D. Clardy, John W. Yerkes, James D. Black, and Young E. Allison, for the disbursement of the money, and for the proper management of all interests and exhibits of the State during the season of the exposition. The body named appointed an auxiliary commission of three ladies, Mrs. Sue Phillips Brown and Misses Ida E. Symmes and Lucy Lee Hill, to have charge of such interests as more

especially applied to women. In 1891, President Harrison appointed James A. McKenzie, John S. Morris, Wm. Lindsay, and John Bennett, from Kentucky, to represent the exposition at home and abroad in foreign countries from a national standpoint.

The history of this event of the Nineteenth century has entered so largely into the literature of the day as

[graphic]

to have become familiar to every intelligent mind.

On the 1st day of June, 1892, the centennial of the Statehood of Kentucky, an audience assembled at Macauley's Theater, in Louisville, in commemoration of the event. Col. R. T. Durrett, under the auspices, and as the president, of the Filson Historic Club, read an interesting address, graphically reviewing the history of the discovery, settlement, and political events of the State, making a contribution of value both to the literature and history of our Commonwealth. Major Henry T. Stanton followed with a stirring poem appropriate to the occasion, and in flowing and rhythmical verse recited again the story of adventure, of romance and heroism, stranger and not less fascinating than fiction. A banquet at the Galt House followed these literary exercises, in the evening of the same day, attended by the members of the Filson Club and their invited guests. The toasts and speeches around the dining-board were commemorative of the heroic men and women of Kentucky, and of their heroic deeds.

L. C. NORMAN.

At Lexington, the first capital of the State, the ceremonies of celebration were of wider range and more varied. The governor and staff, the State officials and members of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth, were present, by invitation, with a large attendance of visitors from far and

near.

The donation by the citizens of Philadelphia of a group of historical works of art was one of the leading and interesting incidents of the day. The collection included four paintings in oil; one, of Independence Hall, in which the Declaration of Independence was signed; one, of the building in which Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence; two views of Carpenter's Hall, in which the Continental Congress first met,

THE STATE CENTENNIAL IN 1892.

807

September 5, 1774, and in which the act admitting Kentucky to the Union was passed. Accompanying the paintings was a portfolio elegantly bound in Russia leather. This contained a copy of the letter of Hon. J. E. Peyton, of Philadelphia, to Governor Brown; a copy of the presentation testimonial of Carpenter's company; a copy of the presentation testimonials of the citizens of Philadelphia;

a large photographic view of Bunker Hill monument; a similar view of Carpenter's Hall; a scene of the opening of the first Colonial Congress, called "Duche's Prayer;" a view of Independence Hall; a view of Congress Hall, in which Kentucky was admitted into the Union; a view of the building in which Jefferson wrote the Declaration; a view of the Moore House, on Temple Farm, Yorktown, Virginia, in which the terms of surrender by Cornwallis were drawn up; a view of the Yorktown monument; and last, a fine expansive view of the present Capitol at Washington. Twenty-two of the citizens of Philadelphia formed the committee of presentation of these beautiful and hallowed souvenirs of the historic past, under the lead of Hon. Jesse E. Peyton, a Kentuckian by birth and raising. Other representatives of the City of Brotherly Love with him were Hampton L. Carson, John Lucas, Francis M. Brock, John W. Woodside, Edward Shippen, James L. Pennypacker, and Granville Patton. From Carpenter's company were S. R. Mariner, Stacy Reaves, Thomas H. Marshall, Charles McDevitt, Oliver Brandin, and Jacob Garber. From the Select Council were J. M. Adams, George Myers, A. D. Wilson, John H. Baizley, Henry Robertson, James Franklin, Daniel Watt, and William C. Haddock.

[graphic]

PROFESSOR W. H. BARTHOLOMEW.

The distinguished guests were met with a generous welcome, and the hospitality of the State and her people extended in honor of their presence and mission. An address of welcome was made by J. H. Davidson, Mayor of Lexington, and responded to by Hons. Edward Shippen and Joseph M. Adams, of the committee. A brilliant oration by Hon. Hampton L. Carson, of Philadelphia, was then delivered, and an original poem by John W. Woodside followed. The proceedings were happily closed with eloquent addresses by Governor Brown and Hon. W. C. P. Breckinridge, when the

assemblage was invited to Woodland Park, to partake of an old-fashioned Kentucky barbecue feast, after the custom handed down by our pioneer fathers.

Thus passed into history the memorial services of Kentucky's first centennial, and the occasions of festivity that followed; when the thousands present adjourned to their homes, destined to never look upon the like again. On the 1st day of June, 1992, a few of their children, and many of their children's children, will assemble once more, with patriotic reverence and pride, to pay the tribute of respect to the memories of the historic dead, of the past and of the future, and to their great achievements, which shall add new luster and fame, with the old, to our Commonwealth.

« PreviousContinue »