Thursday, June 12, 2008

How Old is Dycusburg?

I wanted to correct an error that appeared in this week's issue of The Crittenden Press in Dycusburg News.

There seems to be some confusion about how old Dycusburg actually is, which brings us to this week's historical tidbit. Dycusburg was established Feb. 3, 1847, making it 161 years old. Located approximately 16 miles from the Crittenden County seat of Marion, in about 1835, a Mr. Shelby opened the first ferry here on the Cumberland River. Later Berry Dycus (after whom the town was named) opened a brick warehouse and the small town began to prosper. Dycusburg was laid out by William F. Dycus on land then owned by G.B. Dycus, its first settler.

Soon after Dycusburg was incorporated in 1848, businesses began to prosper even more, and The post office was established as Dycusburgh on Nov. 7, 1848. That same year, the county court appointed C.M. Jackson, Joshua Duvall, J.C. Elder, H.W. Sanders, and G.B. Dycus as the first trustees of Dycusburg. The town marshal, a synod of "patter rollers," (patrollers) was commissioned for the city and surrounding area. They included M.S. Smith, Captain P.R. Bliss, Robert Cooksey and David Moore. On June 22, 1868, the by-laws of the Town of Dycusburg were adopted.

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