CHAPTER VI.
The next ten years of this history do not promise to be as rich in incident for the historian, or as full of practical value to the city, as were the few years just chronicled. A number of causes were operating at this time to retard the prosperity of the town, and but for the vigor with which it was endued, it must have sunk under the misfortunes which surrounded it. Evil reports, prejudicial to its health; garbled accounts from rival cities of the mortality here; a lamentably disordered state of currency, a Board of Trustees whose inefficiency was constantly complained of, were all opposing the growth of the town; and had it not, as has been before said, inherently possessed the elements of its own progress, it must have faded, and might have been entirely destroyed by the pressure of these untoward circumstances. For about two years the western country had been laboring under the operations of shaving and brokerage; there was not at this time a single bank west of the mountains whose paper could be passed at a fair value, except in the immediate neighborhood of the bank itself, and there were not more than three or four that pretended to pay their notes in money. The paper of the Bank of Kentucky was at a discount, and there was no hope of its improving. Tennessee and Ohio were in a similar, if not a worse condition. The paper of the United States Bank was alone merchantable at its value, and upon Louisville, as the great commercial mart of the western country, must these circumstances weigh most heavily. Despite all these disadvantages, however, the town did progress, not so rapidly as its past course would have promised, but with a rational and steady improvement. One of the drawbacks mentioned above was beginning to be removed. The new Trustees of the town began to prosecute their measures of improvement with some degree of energy. Wells were dug; pavements laid; streets graded; ponds drained; and a general activity prevailed which showed some attention toward making the town more desirable as a residence, both in point of comfort and of health. The removal of the causes o£ disease, however, could not be instantaneous, and even if they had been it would have required time to convince those disposed to emigrate hither of the fact.
The first act of the Trustees in the year 1820 was to order the purchase of two or three fire-engines. Conflagrations had recently become of not uncommon occurrence, and the means for combating them were so few in number, and so incompetent in character, that this measure had become entirely necessary to the safety of the town. Accordingly, Thomas Prather, Cuthbert Bullitt and Peter B. Orsmby were appointed a committee to purchase suitable fire-engines for the use of the city. This being done, the town was laid off into three wards, and Coleman Daniel, Daniel McAllister and Peter Wolford were appointed, one to each ward, to obtain each 40 members to work these engines. These members were to elect each a Captain of the engine and such other officers as might be necessary, and to adopt rules for their own government. Public cisterns, or other like conveniences for the use of firemen, were then unknown. Each citizen was required to keep two or more leather fire-buckets on his premises, while a larger number of the same were kept at the engine houses. These were taken to the fire, and two lines of men formed from the engine, which was stationed near the fire, to the nearest water. One of these lines was occupied in passing buckets filled with water, which, when they arrived at the engine, were poured into it; and the other in passing back the empty buckets to be refilled, it was by this tedious process alone that they were enabled successfully to combat a fire.
Although tables of various sorts, showing the progressive increase of the town, have been from time laid before the reader, yet the events of thirteen years have been passed over without offering to his inspection that most conclusive of documentary evidence, the tax list. It may be remembered that the assessment of 1807 amounted to $913 50. The following list for 1821 will give a clear idea of the increased value of property since that time.
VALUATION OF GROUND AND IMPROVEMENTS, $1,189,664 00.
| Assessed Taxes on same | $4,637 68 | |
| On 14 1st rate Retail Stores at $30 | 420 00 | |
| 24 2d"""$20 | 540 00 | |
| 7 3d"""$10 | 70 00 | |
| 26 Tavern Licenses$10 | 260 00 | |
| 70 Carriage Wheels50c | 35 00 | |
| 2 Billiard Tables$17 | 34 00 | |
| Total | $5 996 68 |
The following is a census of the population, taken at this period:[12]
| Free white males to 10 years of age | 346 | ||
| ""10 to 16 | 152 | ||
| ""16 to 26 | 498 | ||
| ""26 to 45 | 707 | ||
| ""45 and upwards | 121 | ||
| —— | 1324 | ||
| Free white females to 10 years of age: | 356 | ||
| ""10 to 16 | 132 | ||
| ""16 to 26 | 273 | ||
| ""26 to 45 | 232 | ||
| ""45 and upwards | 69 | ||
| —— | 1062 | ||
| —— | |||
| Total White Population | 1886 | ||
| Blacks, including free persons of color | 1126 | ||
| —— | |||
| Total | 4012 | ||
| Of whom there are engaged in Commerce | 128 | ||
| """Manufactures | 591 | ||
| Foreigners | 94 | ||