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Dirigo - A Happening Place 100 years ago As Dirigo is a new place perhaps some of the readers would be glad to know where it is. It is on Harrods Fork, near the old monument--one of the grandest natural scenes in the commonwealth. Although a new town we have one dry goods store, a Post-Office, two saw mills in operation and another to start in the near future. - (Adair County News, January 17, 1906) Related link, at request of JIM: DIRIGO with many photo(s) By JIM Dirigo, 1913: A Happening Place Had former Columbia mayor Pat Bell been hanging around Dirigo in 1913, there's no doubt he would have put up signs proclaiming the enterprising village "a happening place." But then, what else could it be, when the New Year started off quietly--and quite dry ("not a drop of intoxicant was seen in the little town"); with a population boom ("Daughter born Jan. 1 to Rev. Joe Stotts"); and with a new business enterprise ("Mose Wooten has bought a saw mill which he is installing in this place.") (Actually, young Miss Stotts, first name Mildred, jumped the gun on 1913 and made her debut on December 30, 1912. She lived well into her ninety-sixth year.) Come February, Mose Wooten was adding a grist mill to his growing conglomerate, and the Dirigoians, being of a collective religious bent, were going en masse to a protracted meeting being held by the Revs. J.C. Campbell, T.J. Campbell, Joe Stotts, Millard Stotts, Gwin Smith, and T.L. Jessie. The following month brought a largely attended "two-day singing, conducted by Prof.. A.G. Hill, of Garlin;" Mr. J.J. England's removal to his just-completed dwelling house; and Ace Pelston and family's removal from his domicile in the domain of Dirigo to beautific, bucolic Bliss. At this point, an aside is absolutely necessary anent the Pelston family's new digs. This commentary appeared in the Dirigo newsletter printed in the April 2, 1913 News: "Mr. Ace Pelston who recently removed from this place to Bliss says he has discovered a new species of rats. He says that it has been reported that the house in which he now lives is haunted, but he has learned that the supposed haunts are merely rats. He says they actually sing. He has succeeded in catching many of them, and says they can get along very well without their music. When the tribe is extinguished, he thinks the haunts that have frightened others will have disappeared." (Despite Mr. Pelston's bravado and his exercises of exorcism, he soon moved back within the friendly perimeter of Dirigo. We now rejoin our regularly scheduled program, already in progress.) In mid-April, Mr. John W. McClister, a merchant of Dirigo, passed beyond this sphere of influence; he was only fifty-three. "At the time of death he was removing his stock of goods from an old store house to a new building he had just erected," leaving his widow Amanda (better known as Manda) to run the store. (When the Dirigo post office opened in 1905, Mr. McClister was the postmaster.) By the middle of August, Z.T. Bennett, who had resided with the McClisters for a number of years, was involved in the operation of the store. July ushered in a new school year with Prof. Bryce Walker wielding the chalk stick and the ruler. Said the correspondent to the News, "About sixty students [are] in attendance and all seem to be doing well," and noted of Prof. Walker's previous term of service, "He taught us an excellent school last year." Also, mention was made that a debating society (also called a literary society) soon would be organized with weekly meetings. By the end August came news that the meetings, held at Independence (school), were going well: "Large crowds in attendance and the best of order prevails. Most recently, the question in debate, 'Resolved, that women should have the right of suffrage,' was won by the team arguing in the negative. Upcoming topics included 'Resolved, that the dog law is unjust,' and 'Resolved, that the United States should acquire Mexico.'" With the dog days of August came another revival, this one conducted by Eld. Robert Kirby, "during which time five persons were added to the church." Religious though the denizens of Dirigo might have been, the real buzz du jour came over the marriage of a Mr. Bennett (son of the above-mentioned Z.T.) and a Miss Stotts--and the resulting charivari. Remarked the correspondent, "As the groom was but seventeen and the bride but fourteen years old, the young men of the community gave an old time serenade. Then every old musket in the community was brought into play for something like half a hour [and] any one within five or six miles who did not know what was going on might well have thought that war had been declared and that a fierce battle was in progress." Toward the end of August, Dirigo drew front page coverage in the News with this brief but outre tidbit: "The wild man, who annoyed the people of the Dirigo neighborhood, was seen last week at Font Hill. He wears nothing but an overcoat, and some think that he is an escaped convict." Late September and early October saw a burst of activity. In addition to (yet) another revival, this one under the auspices of the Revs. Roach, Campbell, Payne, and Stotts. The prodigal Ace Pelston family (who apparently found no bliss at Bliss) returned to Dirigo, as did the families of Matthew Wooten and Allen Wooten, the latter two clans having sojourned to the greener pastures of Sparksville a few weeks earlier, only to soon become dissatisfied there. On the business front, things were booming in and around downtown Dirigo. J.M. Campbell had "placed an exchange" and was handling flour for the Gradyville mill; W.A. James was erecting a large feed barn on his recently purchased farm; and Melvin Petty had opened "a bucking yard of several thousand staves and a number of wagons are running daily, hauling the staves to Greensburg." Additionally, Mose Wooten and the recently returned Ace Pelston had formed a partnership and were erecting a large business house. "They have the house about completed and say their opening stock of goods will be on hand inside of ten days." By the end of November, a large singletree and spoke factory was going up; William Hudson had just completed a new residence and the Orlander Stotts house was just days away from being habitable; and "the new store recently erected by Ace Pelston & Co., is doing an excellent business." And, with the common school term soon coming to an end, Prof. Bryce Walker announced plans to teach a subscription school "in the coming winter." (Apparently, Prof. Walker's plans come a-cropper, as a later newsletter stated Prof. H.M. Campbell would open a school on January 5th, 1914, with 30 or so students. His qualifications were thus: "Mr. Campbell is a young man of industrious habits and is well educated, although he has had no experience teaching we predict that he will make good in his chosen profession." He was indeed a young man, not yet nineteen.) December in Dirigo found that Mrs. Amanda McClister had "sold her stock of goods at this place to Mose Wooten and Acy Pelston. They have removed the goods to their store at this place." (In the closing days of March, 1914, Mr. Pelston sold his interest in the enterprise to Mr. Wooten and went on to other endeavors.) Almost immediately, however, three entrepreneurs of the Fairplay section, the Messrs. John Young, U.S. Garrett, and Amos Loy "bought the store and residence from Mrs. Amanda McClister for $600." It was the understanding of the correspondent that "Mr. Garrett will remove here and will put in a stock of goods." (A few days earlier, Mrs. McClister had "bought the land formerly owned by the old Bird's Chapel church near here from J.R. Cummins for ten dollars.") And, after a bit of delay, "The Kentucky Singletree Company now have their machinery at this place and hope to be ready to begin turning by next Monday. They take hickory and oak of all kinds, beech, ash, maple, and sugar tree at prices ranging anywhere from $25 per m. to $ 60 per m." And the last item on the business side of Dirigo's 1913 ledger was the announcement that "Willie Bennett has purchased a stereoptican and so we presume that he will soon be on the road with a moving picture show." (The use of the term "moving picture show" is somewhat enigmatic, as stereopticans projected still pictures onto a screen. They, as with all of the class of projectors of the so-called "magic lantern" ilk, were a stepping stone between regular photographs and moving pictures.) Other end-of-year goings-on included Bill Gibbons, who had been in the Lone Star State for a year, returning home to Dirigo; a son born to Mr. and Mrs. Bannerd Harvey; and a daughter to Mr. and Mrs. R.L. Campbell. Mr. R.L. Campbell (full name Robert Lee), by the by, was the reigning poet laureate of Dirigo, his works gracing the pages of the News now and anon. Almost exactly seven years earlier, one of his efforts had been accepted by "an Eastern magazine." The first two of that poem's several stanzas will prove more than sufficient unto the day: Christmas1913 closed out in Dirigo the way it opened--quietly, the most riotous event (as recorded by the News correspondent) being a Christmas night candy breaking for the younger set, hosted by Mr. and Mrs. T.B. Williams. - JIM This story was posted on 2013-10-16 08:10:00
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