Caswell - Elizabethtown

This rare postcard of the courthouse in the center of the Public Square is postmarked 1907. This courthouse burnt in 1932. No Hardin County records were burnt. The first courthouse was made of log and was not in the center of the Public Square. (Courtesy of Meranda Caswell.)

A mule is standing on the courthouse steps in the early 1900s, ridden by Weed Chelf. From the late 1800s to the mid-1900s, the mule industry was a profitable business. Some of the residents of Elizabethtown used to ride their mules through the courthouse, not without penalty. (Courtesy of Mike Sisk.)

Some Hardin County officials are sitting in a room in the courthouse in January 1904. Pictured from left to right are Marcus Berry, deputy sheriff in 1886; Judge English ?, county judge from 1889 to 1901; and Dave Rider, county judge in 1901. (Courtesy of Mary Jo Jones.)

The courthouse is pictured between 1922 and 1932. Notice the obelisk in the courthouse yard. The large limestone marker, with a bronze tablet, was donated by Dr. William Allen Pusey and the Womans Club to Elizabethtown in 1922 to commemorate Thomas Lincoln, the father of President Abraham Lincoln, who lived in Elizabethtown from 1806 to 1808. The whereabouts of this monument now are unknown. (Courtesy of Meranda Caswell.)

Dr. William Allen Pusey and the Womans Club of Elizabethtown donated a monument in 1922 to stand in the courtyard of the Hardin County Courthouse. The memorial honored the parents of Abraham Lincoln. In June, a tablet was presented to honor Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, who resided in Elizabethtown. In October, another tablet was presented to honor the Elizabethtown marriage of Thomas Lincoln and Sarah Bush Johnston. (Courtesy of the Brown-Pusey House.)

Dr. Louis A. Warren (at left), once pastor of the Christian Church, and Mrs. J. F. Albert (at right), president of the Womans Club, presented a memorial to honor President Abraham Lincolns parents. The tablet was fixed to a limestone base from the Mill Creek farm, the first home of Thomas Lincoln. The whereabouts of this memorial are unknown. (Courtesy of the Brown-Pusey House.)

Circus Day was a big event in the late 1800s and early 1900s. A parade of oxen is pictured walking around the courthouse. Barnum and Baileys Circus, Hagenback and Wallace Circus, Cole Brothers Circus, and the Walter L. Main Circus were huge shows. Notice the sundries store, Showers and Hays, and a laundry cleaner. (Courtesy of Mary Jo Jones.)

Circus Days in Elizabethtown were full of parades on the way to the fair grounds. The horses and ponies are pulling a cart labeled Annie Oakley. (Courtesy of Mary Jo Jones.)

Pictured is another photo of a parade during Circus Days around the third courthouse taken from the the courthouse steps. (Courtesy of Mary Jo Jones.)

Elizabethtown and Hardin County officials, c. 1904, are, from left to right, (front row) Bill Gardiner, Judge McBeath, Judge English, J.D. Irwin, and an unidentified boy; (middle row) unidentified, Scott Branch, Marcus Berry, Chris Fraize, and John Wells; (back row) unidentified and John Sprigg. (Courtesy of Mary Jo Jones.)

A bond rally for World War I took place at the third courthouse in 1917. Residents of Elizabethtown and Hardin County servedand some diedin World War I. (Courtesy of Mary Jo Jones.)