34th The St Louis—built at Shippingport in 1818, and owned by Messrs. Hewes, Douglass, Johnson and others; in the St. Louis trade; 220 tons burthen.
35th. The Vesta—built at Cincinnati in 1817, and owned by Captain Jenkins of that place; in the Louisville trade; 100 tons burthen.
36th. The Rifleman—built at Louisville in 1819, and owned by Messrs. Butler and Barners, of Russelville, Kentucky; in the Louisville trade; 250 tons burthen.
37th. The Alabama—a small boat, built on Lake Ponchetrane in 1818; in the Red River trade.
38th. The Rising States—built at Pittsburg in 1819, and owned by W. F. Peterson and Co., of Louisville; in the Louisville trade.
39th. The General Pike—built at Cincinnati in 1819, intended to ply between Louisville, Cincinnati, and Maysville, as a packet, and owned by a company in Cincinnati.
40th. The Independence—owned by Captain Nelson, and intended to ply between Louisville and St. Louis.
41st. The United States—built at Jeffersonville, Indiana, in 1819; owned by Hart and others, and has two separate engines, made in England. She is doubtless the finest merchant steamboat in the universe, drawing but little water, and capable of carrying 3000 bales of cotton; in the Louisville trade; 700 tons burthen.
The interest of this subject and the quantity of material which presses upon us in regard to it have for awhile led us to forget the proper order of our history, to which it will be necessary now to revert. Commencing then with 1811 we have first to record the erection of a Catholic Chapel by the Rev. Mr. Badin. This building was situated upon a lot given by Mr. Tarascon, near the present corner of Eleventh and Main streets. It was built in the Gothic style, and was a small edifice. The lot upon which it stood was used as the cemetery of the church, and many years afterward in digging out Eleventh street; skulls, bones, and portions of bodies were thrown up from this graveyard.
With the opening of the year 1812, was commenced the first Bank ever instituted in Louisville. This was the branch of the Bank of Kentucky. Previous to this, there was an unincorporated establishment named the Louisville Bank, whose capital of about 75,000 dollars was thrown into this Bank, with an addition of 25,000 dollars, making for the first incorporated Bank a capital of 100,000 dollars. This bank was situated on the North side of Main street, near the corner of Fifth, and was under the direction of Thomas Prather,[11] President, and John Bustard, Cashier. An additional impetus was also given to the commercial prosperity of the town by the establishment, during this year, of an iron foundry by Mr. Paul Skidmore. The attention of this foundry was directed to casting gudgeons for water and horse mills, dog and smoothing irons, and odd oven lids. From this small beginning arose that branch of industry now so large and of so vital importance to the city. A brief sketch of the progress of foundries since that time may be interesting to the reader. Mr. Skidmore was succeeded by Joshua Headington, who continued the same description of business with little if any improvement until 1817, when he was in his turn succeeded by Prentiss and Bakewell, who undertook the building of Steam engines, getting a part of the machinery from Philadelphia, and a part from Pittsburg, but they did not succeed very satisfactorily until 1825, when they built some engines for small boats which performed respectably. These gentlemen dissolved their connection about 1826. Mr. Prentiss continued the business a short time alone, and then sold one half of his establishment to Jacob Keffer, who was to superintend the foundry. In 1831, this foundry ceased operations, and Messrs. D. L. Beatty, John Curry, and Jacob Beckwith built a foundry and carried on successfully the casting and steam engine business. These gentlemen erected the first air furnace which ever proved of any value; built the first regular boring-mill, and substituted the blowing cylinder instead of the common wood and leather bellows. There are now six foundries for building steam-engines and machinery of all kinds in full operation, beside six extensive Stove Foundries.