Corinth
The town of Corinth, 960 feet above sea level, the smallest of the incorporated towns of Grant County, is located in the southern part of the county, on the edge of Scott and near the Owen and Harrison lines. In fact. Scott County line runs into the town in such a way as to cut off a few residents who live within the town limits, but who have to go into Scott County to vote in the state and national elections. The Federal census also shows them to be in Scott County, in either the Big Eagle or Stonewall Precinct. In the western part of the town, some residents were listed in the Owen County Census until 1880, when they appeared in the Corinth Precinct of Grant County. All of the land south of Williamstown was covered with dense forests and was sparsely populated, much of it being held by absentee owners with large land grants. Mention may be made of the 8,000 acre grant and one of 7,000 acres held by the Dupont heirs in a boundary description. There was a 56,000 acre grant held by a Frenchman, Francis Simon, but he settled on some of the land near Corinth off the Ragtown Road. Because of the absentee owners, squatters would move in on the land, take possession without a deed and live there. These people were very difficult to remove.
Corinth, also call Mullinixville, was first settled in 1825, and by 1876, the population was around 100. Located 12 miles from Williamstown, the county seat, it became a principal shipping point for hogs, cattle and hogsheads of tobacco. Stages from Cincinnati and Lexington ran through the town. They brought the weekly mail and at that time, William L. Mullinnix was the postmaster. Later, the Federal government took over the mail. At the time of this report, the following businesses were in operation:
Beck,
William, Physician
Borens,
Jeremiah, Grocer
Bradley,
Joseph, Grocer
Chanson,
C., General Store
Daughterty,
W. H., Physician
Nash,
D., Grocer
Rose,
Tobias, Grocer
Sames,
James, Grocer
Trimnell,
G. W., General Store
Whitten's,
F. G., General Store
Hutchinson,
C. H., Flouring Mill
The year 1876 was a very important year for Corinth. A large strip of land was taken from Owen County and given to Grant County, adding quite a quantity of land and the two precincts of Corinth and Keefer. A plat has not been found to show the development of the village, but the Federal government established a post office on October 22, 1868 in Corinth with David W. Williams the first postmaster. Stage coaches, already established, had the license to carry the mail. Ten years later, on Mach 11, 1878, an act of the Legislature passed stating, "that the town by the name of Corinth, be and the same is hereby established on the Cincinnati Southern Railroad, including the present village of Corinth, to be known under the name and style of the "Town of Corinth". This shows that a village, Corinth, was already there. The first trustees were N. T. Perkins, I. H. Forman, Bert Mason. A. O. Miner, and W. A. Million.
A plat of the town was finally found in the County Clerk's Office of the Courthouse, who had received it from the Town Clerk of Corinth, who at that time was Louise Robinson Rogers. It is not an early one, but it does show how the streets ran. Route 25 had been straightened and the railroad moved east with the new road down to the place where the new station should be.
The earliest record found of a school at Corinth is in the Kentucky Legislature's Act of 1878 incorporating the town, Corinth. The Act mentions "a schoolhouse" located on Crooked Creek Road near the intersection with the Covington-Lexington Turnpike (now U.S. 25). The date was March 11, 1878. On April 9, 1878 an act was passed establishing a school to be known as the Corinth Academy, which provided for the Common School District Number 27 at Corinth, and part of District Number 23 north of District Number 37 to be taught at Corinth Academy. The first board of trustees of the Academy were John T. Harris, G. W. Trimnell, W. A. Million, James M. Boone, and W. H. Daugherty. The Act provided that no spiritous liquors could be sold within 1-1/2 miles of the Academy. Deeds attest to the buying of land, three acres altogether, on the New Columbus Road from W. A. Million and Mrs. Polly Ann Jones with the right to use a wagon to haul heavy materials, such as coal, to the rear or side of the dormitory lot. A frame schoolhouse valued at $2,000 had been built and a building constructed to be used as a dormitory to board students.
The Academy offered courses to prepare students for a Teacher's Certificate. The courses often changed from time to time, but usually advanced mathematics, Latin, French, music, both vocal and instrumental, bookkeeping, and telegraphy were taught. Students were boarded from $2.50 to $3.00 per week and tuition was $3.00 to $4.00 per month for each course.
In 1906 the Legislature repealed the section of the Academy Charter which permitted it to operate the Common School and to receive payment from the Common School funds. This caused change, for without these funds, the Academy could not operate. The trustees, W. H. Daugherty, W. B. Adams, G. W. Trimnell, J. H. Musselman, and J. W. Lancaster sold the three acres of land and the school building to Trustees W. G. Dorman, Harry W. Simmons, and George W. Marshall of the Grant County School District, now designated as Number 37. The dormitory was acquired by G. W. Trimnell, who converted it to a residence. It housed several different families until it burned in the early nineteen thirties.
In May 1915, the Corinth Graded Common School was established an an "Independent District" not governed by the Grant County Board of Education. The boundaries of the Independent District extended into Scott County, drawing pupils and taxes from both Scott and Grant Counties. It included 3.10 miles of the Southern Railroad, of which one mile was in Scott County, the rest in Grant. The school added high school subjects as they were needed to pass the pupils along to graduation. The first graduating class was that of 1918, composed of Carl Northcutt, Marshall Wright, and one girl, Zelma McCord.
Prior to this, the trustees had realized that the old Academy schoolhouse was showing signs of age and that they needed a new building, but they did not have the finances to do it. They turned to the Grant County School Board who produced good plans and suggestions. The Corinth Educational Company was organized and incorporated March 1926. The first board of directors were L. C. Rogers, President; R. E. True, Secretary; F. B. Craig, Treasurer; R. L. Abernathy, J. D. Davis, E. J. Alcoke, and E. D. Mardis, Architects Churchill and Gillig of Lexington were employed to draw plans for a new building, which were approved by the County and State Boards of Education. While the new building was under construction in 1925-1928, the high school met in the large assembly hall on the third floor of the lodge building downtown; the grades continued in the Academy schoolroom. It was the year when large floppy black galoshes were stylish for girls to wear in rain or snow. They loved to wear them unfastened above the ankle, for they made a delightful noise when the girls walked across the floor just before dismissal for the day.
The first graduating class in the new building was in 1926. The old classroom building which had served the Academy and Corinth for so long was sold to W. T. Romans, who tore it down the following summer, plank by plank.
The Corinth Education Company lasted until 1945, meeting every year. C. J. Glass filled the vacancy created by the death of R. L. Abernathy in 1927. The last meeting of the directors of the company was attended by four directors: W. T. Stewart, President; Ola M. Lee, Fannie Davis Martin, and Nettie Morgan. The last class to be graduated from Corinth High School was that of 1953. The County Board of Education had consolidated the four county high schools, built a large building to hold all of them, calling it the Grant County High School.
History
of Grant County, John B. Conrad,
Editor
Published
by the Grant County Historical Society, Williamstown,
Ky.
Article by
Z. M. McMurtry, 1992.