44 AUGUSTA BAPTIST CHURCH of Germany arrived in Augusta and helped to establish a thriving viniculture and wine industry. Sometime before 1860, three German craftsmen, named Federer, Stievater, and Schweitzer, constructed for Abraham Baker an imposing stone winery 40 by 100 feet. This edifice remains at the junction of Ky. Rt. 19 and Ky. Rt. 8 and is currently being renovated. There was a time when the wine production of the Baker and Bradford wineries rivaled that of the larger wineries in Cincinnati, but eventually most of the region’s vineyards were destroyed by blight. Before the Civil War, Augusta was a noted center of abolitionists (see Underground Railroad, Bracken Co.). Debates among the students at Augusta College concerning the “peculiar institution” of slavery were held regularly. Among the college’s noted students opposing slavery were Rev. John G. Fee, founder of Berea College, and Rev. James Armstrong Thome, who became a professor of belles lettres at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. On September 27, 1862, Confederate lieutenant colonel Basil Duke led seven companies of Morgan’s Raiders (see John Hunt Morgan), with two pieces of artillery, onto the cemetery hill overlooking Augusta (see Augusta Civil War Raid). Augusta’s greatest period of growth began in the second half of the 19th century, when the town became a center of shipping for north central Kentucky and had a commodious 20-by-45-foot market house. With the addition of a wharf boat, the town was able to export large quantities of the products grown and produced in the area. Bracken Co. became the nation’s top producer of white burley tobacco, which was used in the manufacture of fine cut, plug, and snuff tobacco, and the white burley that was produced in the county commanded the highest prices offered on the market. Great quantities of this tobacco were bought by local dealers in Augusta and shipped off to commission houses for sale in other markets. In some years, these shipments amounted to more than 4 million pounds. During the last quarter of the 20th century, Augusta has been known best as the site of three major fi lms: James Michener’s Centennial, PBS’s Huckleberry Finn, and Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers. Augusta is also home of Nick Clooney’s family, the former home of Rosemary Clooney, and currently the home of the family of Miss America 2000, Heather Renee French Henry, whose husband, Dr. Steve Henry, was a two-term Kentucky lieutenant governor (1995–2003). Noted playwright Stuart Walker, who patented the portable stage and introduced the individual spotlight system used in theaters today, was raised on Augusta’s Riverside Dr. The town’s foremost artist was Stephan Alke, who painted in oil and chose area landscapes and portraits as his central themes. Alke later became a student of the nationally known Kentucky artist Frank Duveneck. In the last half of the 20th century, some businesses in town closed their doors, but two factories continue to thrive in Augusta. Clopay Plastic Products Company, which opened in August 1955, initially produced plastic covers, then later switched to making window blinds and blackout covers. This
company continues to manufacture barrier film for health-care and hygienic use; it is a division of the Griffon Corporation, which has corporate headquarters in Jericho, N.Y. The oldest manufacturing firm now operating in Augusta was established in 1883 as the Excelsior Handle Company. Today it is operated as the F. A. Neider Auto-Fastener Group, which currently is a part of AUVECO, a division of the Auto Vehicle Parts Company. F. A. Neider, who initially patented and manufactured hardware and trimmings for fine horse-drawn carriages, founded the original company. The Neider plant now manufactures add-ons for the automotive aftermarket and boat industries. The river has been both a hindrance and a benefit as the city of Augusta has advanced into the 21st century. The devastating flood of 1997 led to the removal of several homes, but it also provided an opportunity for the town to develop green spaces and parks for its visitors. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for maintenance of the boat-dock facilities and was instrumental in constructing the O’Neill River Walk, which makes it possible for large pleasure and passenger entertainment boats to dock adjacent to the town’s center. Local restaurants and an inn continue to thrive, offering fine dining and overnight facilities for tourists. In 2000, according to the U.S. Census, 1,204 people lived in the city of Augusta; in 2005 it estimated the city’s population at 1,257. Algier, Keith. Ante-Bellum Augusta: The Life and Times of a Kentucky River Town. Maysville, Ky.: Standard Quick Print, 2002. Bracken Co. Extension Homemakers. History of Bracken County. Bicentennial ed. Brooksville, Ky.: Bracken Co. Extension Homemakers, 2002. Rankins, Walter H. Augusta College, Augusta, Kentucky: First Established Methodist College, 1822–1849. Frankfort, Ky.: Roberts, 1957.
Caroline R. Miller
AUGUSTA BAPTIST CHURCH. Although the Augusta Baptist Church in Bracken Co. was organized in 1818, the church’s first ser vice was not held until 1819. The congregation met in several buildings and member homes in Augusta until a permanent building was erected in the town in 1843 at the southeast corner of Third and Bracken Sts. The church’s chandelier, which used kerosene, was lighted by means of a weight-and-pulley system that raised and lowered it. That meetinghouse lasted more than 100 years before the current building was opened in 1948. This lovely building has had various additions, including a new bell tower that replaced the first church’s well-used wooden one. Today, electricity has replaced the kerosene lighting system; however, some of the first church’s fi xtures are still being utilized at the new church. Bracken Co. Extension Homemakers. History of Bracken County. Bicentennial ed. Brooksville, Ky.: Bracken Co. Extension Homemakers, 2002.
Caroline R. Miller
AUGUSTA CHRISTIAN CHURCH. The Augusta Christian Church in Bracken Co. was orga-
nized March 15, 1840, as this newly formed denomination of independent Christian churches spread throughout Kentucky. The Augusta Christian Church, located on Bracken St., was closed shortly afterward and then reorganized on January 1, 1854. In 1888 a new church building was erected on a lot offered by Amanda Perrine, who also contributed $1,000 for its construction. The church building is brick with a stone foundation and has a seating capacity of 200. Later, two rooms and a baptistery were added to the building. In 1982 Fred and Ida Mae Schweitzer left funds for the erection of a back addition to the church for additional Sunday school rooms. Bracken Co. Extension Homemakers. History of Bracken County. Bicentennial ed. Brooksville, Ky.: Bracken Co. Extension Homemakers, 2002.
Caroline R. Miller
AUGUSTA CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE. The Augusta Church of the Nazarene in Bracken Co. had its origins in 1924 in a tent pitched for religious ser vices at the City Park of Augusta. The church’s next meeting place was a spacious Riverside Dr. home in town that could accommodate about 100 worshippers. In 1925 the church erected a building on Park Ave. close to the City Park, but this structure suffered great losses over the years from intermittent flooding. Under the leadership of Rev. Shelby Mathews, the church’s current building was constructed on W. Fourth St. in town; weekly attendance there numbers about 300. There have been several additions to the church during the last 20 years, and the church still strives to serve the community. Bracken Co. Extension Homemakers. History of Bracken County. Bicentennial ed. Brooksville, Ky.: Bracken Co. Extension Homemakers, 2002.
Caroline R. Miller
AUGUSTA CIVIL WAR RAID. The Confederate raid of Augusta on September 27, 1862, during the Civil War, culminated in 20 minutes of intense hand-to-hand combat demonstrating that when Union militia were well commanded, they could effectively fight regular Confederate soldiers. The raid occurred during the Confederate invasion of Kentucky when Lt. Col. Basil W. Duke, screening Confederate general Edmund Kirby Smith’s northern flank in Falmouth, decided to raid Cincinnati. Leading 450 men of Col. John Hunt Morgan’s cavalry brigade, Duke was determined to capture the home guard force recently organized in Augusta, cross the Ohio River, and threaten Cincinnati, causing Union troops to withdraw from Walton in order to relieve the threat. In Augusta, Col. Joshua T. Bradford had been drilling a new home guard unit of 125 men, and when his scouts reported the approach of Duke’s column that morning, Bradford called them out and organized a very effective interser vice defensive plan. He went to the Ohio River landing and ordered the captains of the gunboats Belfast and Florence Miller, each vessel with one 12-pound cannon, to