It’s unlikely that many people know the history of this pump on Mathews Court Green. Two issues of the Mathews Journal from August 1911 tell most of the story. A well-driller referred to as Mr. Shimp had drilled a well on the green. A collection hat was passed among merchants in the village, and on Aug. 17, the Journal said, “The people of the Court House are indebted to Mrs. E.M. Blake and Sheriff Jno. B. Miller for the pump put on the well recently dug in the Court House yard by Mr. Shemp [sic] and thus furnishing the starving public with a little water.” Five years later, to be sure animals were not left out, troughs were built at the pump, the Journal reported.
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