Catlettsburg Walking Tour
Loading...
Get a QR Code for this tour
Description
A work in progress. A walking tour around some of the industries that existed around Catlettsburg. It also includes several cultural landmarks and buildings.
1. Beechmoor (the Catlett House)
Alexander Catlett came to the mouth of the Big Sandy to operate a trading post for the area, which was the beginning of the town of Catlettsburg. Beechmoor was his residence that was first built in 1812, with materials shipped down from Pittsburgh. It was later purchased by Col. Laban Moore who lived there with his family. Beechmoor was named after Moore and the large beech tree that resided on the property.
2. Catlettsburg National Bank (1885-2014)
The late Victorian-era bank building in downtown Catlettsburg was built in 1885 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. After it was founded, it spent thirty-five years printing money, printing $978,800 in that time period. At its height of business in 1900, it was clearing one million dollars daily. In 1916, the building was sold to the Farmers and Merchants Bank, and the bank closed in 1931 in a wave of bank closures in the early years of the Great Depression. The building was used as offices for area businesses and physicians in the coming decades but suffered neglect that made it largely vacant by the 1980s. The building was later abandoned and condemned in 2011. Demolition crews began to tear down the building in 2014 despite efforts to save the historic structure, which had survived the great Ohio River floods of 1913 and 1937.
3. "Civil War Army Base" - Kentucky Historical Marker
This historical marker commemorates a Union Civil War Army encampment that protected vessels traveling along the Ohio River from potential attack by Confederate troops or bushwhackers. This post also served as a supply base and communication center for Union forces. This marker was placed by the Kentucky Historical Society and Kentucky Department of Highways in 1964.
4. First United Methodist Church
Constructed in 1867, First United Methodist Church is one of the oldest structures in Cattlesburg. The congregation was first introduced to the community of Catlettsburg as the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in the years prior to the Civil War. The early movement of Methodism in Boyd County was conducted at this time by traveling ministers on horseback. After the Great Revival led to a surge in interest throughout states such as Kentucky, membership within Methodist congregations increased and Methodism became the largest denomination in many southern and western communities in the 1830s. During the 1844 General Conference, where the debate over whether bishops could own slaves caused a split in the church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South was created. Like many other churches in Kentucky and the South, this congregation dates back to this branch of the Methodist Church.
