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 Jefferson
County, named in honor of Thomas Jefferson, was organized in 1809. It is
bounded on the north by Ripley, east by Switzerland, south by the Ohio River,
and southwest and west by Clark, Scott and Jennings Counties, and it contains
about 375 square miles. It is divided into ten civil townships, viz: Madison,
Hanover, Saluda, Republican in the south; Milton, Smyrna and Graham in the
center; and Shelby, Monroe and Lancaster in the north part of the county.
The population in 1830 was 11,456, in 1840, 16,614, and at this time [1849]
about 20,000.
Jefferson County presents a great variety of soil and surface. The bottoms on the Ohio and along the principal creeks are a rich loam mixed with sand, and the lofty and steep hills near them have also a rich soil. On the tableland, back of the hills, there is more clay, and still farther in the interior, a considerable portion of the land is nearly level, covered mostly wit beech timber, unfit for corn or grain, and suitable only for grass. Probably near one-half of the county is of this character. About half of the population of Jefferson County resides in Madison, the County Seat. There are in the county about 120 stores and groceries, thirty lawyers, forty physicians, forty preachers, twenty Methodist, fourteen Baptists, and ten Presbyterian churches, besides several for the Reformers, Universalists, etc. Hart's Falls, near Hanover, and the Falls of Clifty, tow and a-half miles northwest of Madison, are well worth a visit from the admirers of grand and beautiful scenery. The taxable land in the county amounts to 184,994 acres. |
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| Hanover | ||
 Hanover, a beautiful
town on the high bluffs of the Ohio in Jefferson County, six miles below
Madison, was first settled in 1810 by the Hon. W. Dunn, who was soon after
joined by the Rev. J. F. Crowe, D.D. Under the auspices a flourishing Literary
Institution has been built up, and the village for its accommodation now
contains about 100 houses, and, including students, 600 inhabitants. Hanover
has just suffered severely [1849] from a visitation of the cholera, in which
the President of the College, Dr. Scoville, and several other valuable citizens,
died suddenly; but no place on the Ohio has usually been more healthy, nor
is there any one, where more attention has been paid to the cultivation of
the morals and intellects of the youth. |
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| Madison | ||
 Madison, the County
Seat of Jefferson County, is beautifully situated in a valley averaging
three-fourths of a mile in width and about three miles in length, at a northern
bend of the Ohio River, which is nearest to the center of the State. About
half of this valley is from thirty to forty feet above the highest floods
of the river, and on this stands much the largest and best part of the city.
Steep and rugged hills, from 400 to 500 feet in height appear to surround
this valley, except where the river winds along, and from their tops, or
when seen from below, the most delightful and romantic scenery is presented.
Among the first settlers of Madison, in the year 1808, or soon after, were
John Paul, Governor, W. Hendricks, J. Sering, Messrs. N. & J. Hunt, and
others, who have since participated in transacting much important public
business. In 1816, when the writer of this article first saw Madison, there
were not exceeding three or four brick and twenty frame houses, and probably
100 cabins. It improved, however, rapidly for a few years, but after the
unhealthy seasons and "Hard times" of 1820 and 1821, the prospects were very
gloomy and the business dull until 1824, when improvements again commenced
and have continued to this time [1849], except an interruption of near five
years between 1838 and 1843. In 1834 the population of Madison was estimated
at 2,500, in 1840 it was 3,798, and at this time [1849] it is over 7,000,
and with better prospects of increasing than at any former period. The public
buildings in the City are the Court House, Jail and county offices, tow large
market houses, the branch of the State Bank, a large Railroad Depot, two
fine buildings for City Schools, three Methodist Churches, two Presbyterian,
do., one for each branch of that denomination, one for the Episcopalians,
one for the Catholics, all which are excellent buildings, and the Baptists,
Christians, and other denominations have also convenient buildings, making
about fifteen in all.
The new Episcopal Church, on Mulberry Street, (Christ Church, under the Rectorship of Rev. Dr. Claxton) is a fine specimen of the early English style of Gothic architecture with an open timbered ceiling handsomely finished, a tower, porch and all the leading characteristics of the old English Parish Church. The design was prepared by W. Russell West, Esq., Architect, and the engraving here given is copied from a picture of the building in the Western Art Union, Cincinnati. Among the manufactories are Lewis & Crawford's and Farnsworth and Honore's foundries and machine shop, Gregg's oil mill, Whitney & Hendricks's oil mill and woolen factory, King and Ely's cotton factory, Heberhart's, for candles, Lane's, for lard oil, and Page, White & Griffin's large and convenient steam flouring mills. There are more brick houses, and the dwelling houses in Madison are better in quality, in proportion to their number, than in any other town in the State, and the cost of their construction is, in general, cheaper than in other parts of the State. A fine hotel, to cost over $30,000, is now building by a company, to atone, in some measure, for the deficiency in this respect heretofore. Madison is situated in latitude 38 deg. 46 min. north, and in longitude 8 deg. 20 min. west. It is eighty-six miles southeast of Indianapolis, fifty, by the river, above Louisville, and ninety below Cincinnati. |
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