Curtis

This written in the 1940's. It is provided to us by Sandi Gorin.

"The first school was organized about 1853, and a log building was constructed on the hill overlooking the community. This land is now owned by Rollin REED. The late James Harvey MANN gave the ground for the second school building, a log structur, named "MANN" in honor of its donor. About 1890 the log structure was replaced by a new frame building which burned in 1920, and the present school was erected in 1921.

The school building was first used as a school and a place to worship. Here the Methodist Church was organized, and the people worshiped for a number of years. In about 1893 James BREEDING bought one acre of land from Thomas N. REED and gave this ground to the Methodists for the purpose of constructing a church. The church, named Winfrey's Chapel, was a frame building and that church is still used for worship.

A disagreement arose while Winfrey's Chapel was being built and from this disagreement another church was erected about one mile north east of there. Thomas PATTERSON gave the ground for this Union Church - the Baptist and Cumberland Presbyterian. This building was used for worship until 1847 when it was torn away and a new church built in 1948 by the Baptist.

The first dry goods store and grocery store was established in 1884 by John and Add SHANNON, who later sold to Willie KINNAIRD. That store was discontinued about 4 years later when Willie and Steward KINNAIRD employed Jerome and Mike JENNINGS to build a larger store, where they sold goods for three or four years. G. L. SHIVES bought the business and operated it until 1903 when he sold it to J. R. GARMON who continued its operation until 1910. He sold it to Henry SHIVES who in turn sold to S. L. MORAN and Son. This building burned in 1930, and was replaced by a smaller frame building whre O. E. MORAN now sells goods.

James BREEDING started the mail route in the Curtis community, better known as the MANN Community, because of the school. Mr. BREEDING agreed to carry the mail from Curtis to Edmonton without pay for six months as an accomodation to his neighbors. Curtis EVERETT of Summer Shade moved into the community, and with the cooperation of Mr. BREEDING and other people, was successful in establishing a post office, named CURTIS, in honor of Mr. EVERETT. G. L. SHIVES was the first postmaster. This post office was discontinued in 1929.

In 1881 Bob SHANNON moved to Curtis and bought for $400.00 the farm now owned by Garnett & Rollin REED. Shannon and his son, Samuel, ran a sawmill which gave employment to many people for a number of years.

Jackson PEEK, a miserly bachelor, owned a large forest area on a branch of the South Fork creek. He passed away in 1907 and left this timbered land uncut. The courts sold the land for his relatives and a bond sawmill, the first of the kind in the community, was moved on the Peck farm, and the timber was worked. This gave employment to more people than any one business had ever done before.

Practically all the valuable timber has been marketed and now farming is our only industry.

From: Sandi Gorin <sgorin@glasgow-ky.com>
Subject: CURTIS, METCALFE, KY
Date: Thu, 05 Feb 1998 09:37:10 -0600