Piety Hill - Mt. Pleasant
BROWN, PATTERSON, HOWE, COATES, COATS, VIRDEN, BEREMAN, GRIFFITH, HOBART, RINGHAUSEN, WARWICK, STRAWN, WALTERS, ARMS, TAYLOR, JOHNSON, PICKETT, VAN TRESS, FITZGERALD, HUFFMAN, CARNAHAN
Posted By: Pat Ryan White (email)
Date: 11/25/2013 at 08:03:47
PIETY HILL
“The Daily News”, A.M. Patterson, Editor; Monday, February 18, 1935
The Bystander’s Notes. – Piety Hill
The death of Mrs. Alice Brown removes the last of the old community known as Piety Hill, that section of town north of Saunders and including White and Van Buren as far as the railroad. The streets are still there, most of the old homes, but of those who peopled those homes all are gone, either to their last resting place or moved to other parts. Piety Hill, forty and fifty years ago, was a real community, immortalized by Pem Howe’s “Ode to Piety Hill.”
There was much mingling of the spirit of town and gown, for it was a favorite section for faculty members to live and many students found rooms there during the school year. It is interesting to call the roll of the old families there, nearly half a century ago. The first house on the west side of White Street at Saunders, was known as the Coats home, Mrs. Coates being a Virden. It was afterwards occupied by the John Virden family. Next north was the T.A. Bereman residence, two story brick and nesting place of many a pretty co-ed. Then the Oliver Griffith home, the W.H. Virden home, the King Hobart home and the Brown home. On the other side, starting at Saunders, was the Ross Virden home, then the Ringhausen home, Walter Dallner’s, William McClary’s and last, the W.T. Johnson home.
King Hobart and Louis Ringhausen were carpenters and cabinet makers of the old school, and the contracting firm of Ringhausen & Hobart put up much of the important buildings of the town. Back of the Ringhausen residence, now closed, is the old two story shop where much fine cabinet work was done and where quite a gang of men were employed at times.
Over on Van Buren street stood the colored church, as it does today, but it was a lively place and on Sunday mornings alive with worshipers in a church which was self-supporting, and an important factor in the lives of the many colored people then here. Over on west, was the home of the Warwicks, the Judge and William. The Strawn home was over there too. Prof. Gus Walters of the college faculty lived first on White, just north of the tracks, in the little house that faces west, but later moved into the house on the southwest corner of Saunders and White. At the foot of the hill at Henry street once stood an old tannery, and later the premises were occupied by old Aunt Piney Arms, a colored character, and also the street south and to the west lived old Uncle Dan Taylor, another colored character. Old Winona school stood in the center of the block, but is now replaced by Saunders school.
W.T. Johnson, who lived where Ed Pickett now lives, was at the time foreman of the “Mt. Pleasant Journal”, which at that time carried on ruling and book binding, and many of the old county records were fabricated by his hands. His wife was a Van Tress and her sister, Rebecca Van Tress, was a teacher in the schools, a relative of the Virdens. Indeed, Piety Hill might have been called Virden Hill, as here the Virden families and relatives made up the majority of the families.
Mrs. Alice Brown, the last of the old timers on the Hill, was the widow of John B. Brown, and they lived there in the big two story frame house for over half a century. Mrs. Brown was born at Moonsville, O., in March 1855 and was married in 1875, and widowed in 1916. She was part of the old Piety Hill community and highly respected by her neighbors. She leaves a daughter, Laura, who became the wife of Mr. Michael Fitzgerald, who for many years was connected in an official capacity with the State hospital here. Later they moved to Independence where he was connected with the State hospital there and died in the service of the state.
Piety Hill, like Pleasant Hill, Liberty and others of the old time communities, is of the past. As a community it was of a different age and gone forever. The hill is still there, most of the houses still standing, occupied by a fine type of citizens, but the old Piety Hill, the old social center, the old neighborly center, is gone with the days that made it outstanding in the community life of Mt. Pleasant.
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“The Daily News”, A.M. Patterson, Editor; Tuesday, February 19, 1935
The Bystander’s Notes. – Piety Hill – [Continued]We knew it. Every time we write a column of these notes, we start something. We wrote about Piety Hill, its atmosphere, its community spirit, and its people of a half century ago, and said that Piety Hill was bounded on the south by Saunders street, on the north by the tracks, on the east by the east side of White street and on the west by the west side of Van Buren. And now we are told that geographically we are all wet. That Piety Hill is bounded on the south by Henry street, on the west by Marion street, on the east by the clothes lines at Broadway, deep as Hades and High as heaven, a sort of community with cubic dimensions.
But, tell us this, Ye Scribes and Pharisees. Why was that particular elevation just referred to, named “Piety Hill”, while the elevation west of the old “K” line is called “Vinegar Hill”? Why should the sweetness of virtue be ascribed to the one and the bite of sin to the other? Why should Quinn Huffman allegorically have wings sprouting out of his shoulder blades, and Cash Carnahan allegorically have horns on his brow?The back of the following photo:
"Piety Hill." 83.
Ed Roberts - Grace Roberts gave it to meUpper Row: 1. Maggie Pierson, 2. Nettie Woodburn, 3. May Hare, 4. Clara Virden, 5. Kate Everett, 6. Nettie Freeman
Lower Row: 1. Flo Walden, 2. Lillie Spahr, 3. Ora Frampton, 4. Ollie Virden, 5. Nannie Johnson
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