Historical Tour of the South Side

Wed, 06/03/2015 - 7:52am — Diane Dyer

Saturday afternoon May 30, Butler County Arts Guild sponsored a historical tour that made stops in Woodbury, Rochester, and Provo. Randle Lytle was the speaker in Rochester. Mr. Lytle was the final lockmaster, from 1957 until its close in 1981.

“When settlers first came to this part of the country it was a superhighway. Everything was transported by water much easier than by land”. People would get their supplies and transport by boat. When the first steamboat ran the river in 1807, Robert Fulton built the steamboat and it was successful. That opened the market. Once they saw success, they went for it. In 1928, Capt James Pitt captained the boat from the Ohio River and back. They would get supplies, put on a boat and haul it to their property. A steamboat could get things traveled a bit faster than regular boats.
You could ride a boat from Bowling Green to a local hotel, Evansville to the cave for $10. It was an extra .65 if you caught the train. If you had something to ship to New Orleans, it would be taken to Evansville first and on the way to New Orleans. A living was made trading sugar, salt, whatever.
“The last Evansville(boat), the learned to play tunes on the train whistle. They learned to play “Dixieland” and other tunes to serenade his mother. That didn’t last long, however, as the boat sank in ’31.
Mr. Lytle was certainly a wealth of stories. He told about the Majestic, which was a showboat. The actors sleeping on the second deck, eating their meals on the second deck, etc. This area was very much booming back in the day, more-so than I had previously realized. Steamboats were famous for carrying those who passed away back to their home community. They kept ice in those boats. Steamboats were the very first place you could get ice-cream, the very first place you could get ice for the public.
“There are 100’s of different stories on the river because it was the main highway”. After Mr. Lytle spoke, we toured the old Green River Bank before heading to the Provo Community Building.

Roger Southerland brought the presentation in Provo. Roger does audio tapes of community members, so his presentation was a collection of tapes played where residents spoke of a simpler time in Provo, the old days. Margaret Southerland, 93 years old, was born and raised in Provo. She told of playing ball in Provo and seeing a dirigible. It was quite a sight for the select few who saw it, as it was in the middle of the night. That was probably around 1931.
On school days: when you walk 10 miles a day to school and had to be there at 8, you didn’t have much energy. “We had lots of fun, met lots of nice people”. On the water getting up: John Brown had a boat. He’d say “sit still and don’t move” until they got to the other side. It cost a nickel to cross and a nickel to come back. That was just when the water was up.
Steamboat days: “I remember Gertrude Wilson, picking her up. Uncle Cecil took me and grandma down there and we saw the Majetic Showboat. They had a big show that night. It was all lit up in colors. It cost $.25 to see the show. That was big money back then. You picked three gallon of berries and sold for $3 to buy a new dress.
The ’37 flood: “It rained and it rained. We lived in a two room house. They had the boat in the house and couldn’t get it out”. We finished up with the late Joe Bunch on tape: We spent two weeks carrying lumber through rain, it rained day in and day out. Built the boat 10x10”. He didn’t know why in the world his parents let them go to school, as bad as the water was.
Fun times: “There was always a party, square dancing”, Margaret said. “We always had a game of ball or something”. Margaret is 92 years old and is a resident of Kent Manor in Morgantown.
“Last year was the first year I went on parts of this tour. I thought it was very informative. I was looking forward to this year and was not disappointed. There is a rich history of every town and community. All you have to know is who to ask. And when you do ask, sit back and listen. And it never hurts to record said conversation,” said Southerland.