Historical Notes of Reva
Historical Notes from Reva Stubblefield 1974
Among the early settlers was a man by the
name of O. Spencer, a well educated man from Kentucky and a Methodist minister,
who had a love of fine horses. He settled on a farm near Rich Hill, where he
divided his time between farming and preaching. Later he became engaged in the
coal business and began breeding fine race horses. Many of his horses won
recognition on the great tracks of the country. He was instrumental in
establishing a race track in Rich Hill which became one of the best known
tracks in the country.
Mr. Spencer was a good friend of Major G.
I. Lynch, who resided in Butler but owned and operated a deep pit mine in Rich
Hill. His operation was known as the Bates Coal Company. There was a track
running into the mine and the coal was hauled out in coal cars by a small
donkey. Mr. Lynch, from Boston, was also a lover of fine horses so the two had
much in common. The race track became part of the large fair ground on the east
edge of the city.
So that the cultural aspect of the city
would not be neglected, a library association was organized and incorporated
August 12, 1882. W. T. Tygard was elected President; S. Cain, Secretary; and S.
G. Morrison, Librarian. They started with one hundred books. In 1974 the
library is still in operation with books and __________________________________
an adequate supply to meet the towns needs but they proved to be disappointing,
so he built an artificial gas plant that made enough to light the city. A
double row of gas lights with large white globes decorated Park Avenue from the
entrance gate on the east park to Park Place on the west. It was a beautiful
sight when lit at night and was heralded far and wide as the “Great White Way”.
Later, electricity was brought in and the town was a blaze of light!
Ad to those already listed a cigar
factory, an ice and refrigeration plant, two wholesale beer houses and a daily
newspaper, The Rich Hill Gazzette, which was started August 5, 1880, by George
P. Huckeby. It was republican and was started with the promise that a
postmaster job would be granted him to assure a living.
Of course, the picture couldn’t be all
this rosy. Many of the miners brought in were of foreign descent and great beer
drinkers. There were man from Belgium, Austria, Italy, Wales and Ireland. At
one time there were seven saloons doing a thriving business. The miners worked
hard, drank hard and played a bit rough! It was a wide awake, rootin’ tootin’
western town in the evenings when the miners were in between shifts. On
Saturday nights, which was pay day, there was usually a fight or two, with
possibly a knifing and occasionally a shooting so a jail house became a
necessity. It is still standing, and in use, when necessary. It looks as though
it could do a good job of corralling the boistrous and unruly.
It looked so stout and dungeon-like that
we asked to view the interior. So several of us ladies were given a personal
tour by the present police officer, Lester Fenton. We found it to be swept
clean, in fore ways that one. It was scrupulously clean, painted white and very
bare! There were four cells with iron gates. One cell contained a stove,
another was the toilet room, and two were reserved for prisoners. Each
contained a bare bed made of bars and a folded blanket on each. The bull-run,
or large room you enter was for any females who might be brought there, and
contained two bunks spread with blankets. The small openings called windows,
seen in the picture, were hidden by a lowered ceiling, so one could not see the
sky, and the walls were of stone, hewed at least eighteen inches to two feet
thick. About the only thing any one could do in such confinement would be to
repent of ones wicked ways and vow never to get caught again!
