CROSSWHITE, ADAM
Muench, became aware of growing numbers of Hispanic parishioners and created the Hispanic Ministries outreach program for Covington’s Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption. In 10 years Latinos in the diocese increased by 235 percent, from 1,665 in 1990 to 5,574 in 2000. Experts agree that the true number is much larger yet, since census numbers typically underrepresent immigrants. Rev. John Cahill is the pastor of Cristo Rey’s 400 parishioners. Masses are celebrated every day except Fridays in a 375-seat hall at the Covington Diocese’s former Catholic Center in Erlanger, which is a temporary location. The permanent location will also be in Boone Co., because that is where Northern Kentucky’s Hispanic population is growing most rapidly. Programs offered by Cristo Rey include sacramental education, preparation for marriage, and parenting programs, as well as one-day retreats. Cristo Rey’s comprehensive outreach program for immigrants, Centro de Amistad, brings together many common resources such as social workers, the Covington diocese’s Catholic Charities, the Area Health Education Center, immigration lawyers, and volunteers. The program offers classes in English, Spanish, GED test preparation, citizenship, credit, carpentry, and home buying. Diocese of Covington Archives, Erlanger, Ky.
Tony Llamas
CRITTENDEN. Crittenden, a city located on the border of Kenton and Grant counties along U.S. 25 (Dixie Highway), was preceded by a community on the Dry Ridge Trace, immediately to the south, known as The Wells. The focal point of this first community was Reed’s Tavern, operated by Archibald Reed, who was a Campbell Co. magistrate in 1795 when the area was a part of that county. Just to the west of Reed’s Tavern was the Lebanon Presbyterian Church, founded in 1796, the second church established in the area that became Grant Co. in 1820. The Crittenden community started to develop in 1819. It was located a mile north of The Wells on land owned by William Sanders, who had opened a stagecoach stop on the newly developed Covington and Lexington Turnpike (on the crest of the dry ridge). By 1826 the community also included a tavern operated by Charles Sechrist, a carding mill owned by Henry Sayers, and a newly formed Christian Church. In 1829 John W. Finley bought 400 acres of Sanders’s land that included all four of these sites. In 1831 Finley attempted to incorporate the area and name it Sanders, but he could not do so because another town in Kentucky already had that name. Instead, the community was incorporated under the name Crittenden in 1837; it was the second of the four towns in Grant Co. that remain incorporated. The new town’s first trustees were George Buckner, Ephriam Carter, John W. Fenley, Gustavious Fisher, and James Hudson. Today’s Crittenden Presbyterian Church was begun in The Wells in 1842. Many of its members came from the Lebanon Presbyterian Church. In 1846 the Presbyterian Church located at The Wells
moved into a new meetinghouse in Crittenden. Rev. Thomas Henderson started the Baptist Church at The Wells. After his death it was reorganized in Crittenden as the Crittenden Baptist Church. In 1881 ex-slaves established and built a Christian Church on a lot donated by the people of Crittenden. In 1895 two of this church’s trustees, Willis Jones and Isaac Tone, deeded a part of a lot to open a school in what came to be known as Colored School District B. The church remained open until the early 1980s, when most of the members had died or moved. Over a period of time, much of the area called The Wells became included in the town of Crittenden. Other than the Henderson-Rouse tavern, which became a private residence, all the businesses in The Wells appear to have closed by 1900. The Violet Ridge Church of Christ was organized in 1972 with 30 members. It has enjoyed a steady growth in membership and occupied a new building in 1980. The Bullock Pen Water District and its 134-acre lake west of town supplies water to Crittenden and the northern part the county. A pipeline extending southward also supplies water to Dry Ridge’s water system. Among the most noted people from Crittenden are three brothers, John Uri Lloyd, Nelson Ashley Lloyd, and Curtis Gates Lloyd. The three were all highly respected pharmacists, involved in developing new medicines from plants and herbs, and attained international recognition for their work. John Uri Lloyd was also a famous author. The youngest of the brothers, Curtis Gates Lloyd (1859–1926), established the Lloyd Library in Cincinnati and the Botanical Park and Wildlife Refuge on the outskirts of Crittenden. A part of this area serves the public today as a Grant Co. park. Crittenden is enjoying unprecedented growth and development with the opening of new subdivisions and the associated residential construction. Businesses serving the increased population are being established as needed. In 2000 the city of Crittenden had a population of 2,401. Conrad, John B., ed. History of Grant County. Williamstown, Ky.: Grant Co. Historical Society, 1992. U.S. Census Bureau. “American Fact Finder. Data Set. Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF1) 100-Percent Data. Custom Table.” www.census.gov (accessed January 25, 2006).
John B. Conrad
CRITTENDEN HIGH SCHOOL. The Crittenden High School, one of the four original high schools in Grant Co., opened in fall 1908 in one room of the two-story frame public school building at Crittenden. A new two-story brick building, erected in front of the old frame building, had four rooms on the first floor for the elementary grades, and the second floor was used for the high school. The Crittenden High School graduated its first class in 1911, consisting of one student, Jessie Crutcher. Thereafter, increased enrollment required construction of an addition on the north end of the building to house vocational agriculture and home economics classes. In 1927 the graduating class totaled
251
12 students. The high school graduated its last class in 1953; beginning that fall, high school students attended the new Grant Co. High School at Dry Ridge. The first eight grades at the Crittenden School continued to use the old facilities until the seventh and eight grades were moved to the new Grant Co. Middle School, also at Dry Ridge. The first six grades were moved to the new Crittenden–Mount Zion Elementary School, built in 1973 on the Crittenden– Mount Zion Rd. south of Crittenden. Conrad, John B., ed. History of Grant County. Williamstown, Ky.: Grant Co. Historical Society, 1992. “Twelve Graduated by Crittenden High School,” KP, June 6, 1927, 1.
John B. Conrad
CROPPER, CARROLL L. (b. May 19, 1897, near Burlington, Ky.; d. February 4, 1976, Burlington, Ky.). Carroll Lee Cropper, a Boone Co. judge, was the son of Woodford Lee and Anna “Birdie” G. Kirtley Cropper. He graduated from Burlington High School in 1916 and then attended the University of Kentucky School of Agriculture in Lexington. Following ser vice in the army during World War I, he married Kathryn Brown of Burlington. Cropper worked as a bank cashier, eventually becoming vice president of the Peoples Deposit Bank in Boone Co. In 1934 he was elected to the state legislature representing Boone and Grant counties. In the 1930s, Cropper served as acting Boone Co. judge when Judge Nathaniel E. Riddell was unable to attend meetings. When Riddell died in September 1942 before completing his term, Cropper was appointed judge for the remainder of the term; he was then elected county judge in 1943 and served for the next 20 years, until 1962. From 1942 to 1950, with no court aides, Cropper handled all fiscal court matters and road complaints himself and presided over both domestic and juvenile courts. During his tenure, the population of Boone Co. increased from 10,000 to 25,000 and the development of the Cincinnati/ Northern Kentucky International Airport began. Cropper was instrumental in the creation of Big Bone Lick State Park and the construction of I-275. He was one of only four men to hold the office of judge-executive in Boone Co. between 1901 and 1982. The Carroll C. Cropper Bridge in Boone Co. was dedicated in 1977, completing the vital interstate link between Kentucky and Indiana. Cropper died in 1976 and was buried in the Bullittsburg Baptist Church Cemetery. Becher, Matthew E., Michael A. Rouse, Robert Schrage, and Laurie Wilcox. Images of America: Burlington. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia, 2004. Remlinger, Connie. “Judge Cropper: Million Dollars in Memories,” KP, July 20, 1974, 9.
Matthew E. Becher
CROSSWHITE, ADAM (b. October 17, 1799, Bourbon Co., Ky.; d. January 23, 1878, Marshall, Mich.). Adam Crosswhite was a fair-skinned mulatto slave who successfully escaped from his owner in Bourbon Co. His father was a white slave owner named Powers, who was a half brother of Miss Frances Crosswhite. Ownership of Adam shifted to Fran-