USA > Iowa > Polk County > Des Moines > Des Moines, the pioneer of municipal progress and reform of the middle West, together with the history of Polk County, Iowa, the largest, most populous and most prosperous county in the state of Iowa; Volume I > Part 50
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A contract was let March 17, for the erection of a factory for the Cownie Glove Company, on Third and Elm streets. Large as this factory looked when completed, it was small compared with the building now occupied by the com- pany opposite the Union depot.
A permanent organization of the State Conference of Charities and Correc- tion was formed in Des Moines March 19. Many prominent workers were present and the local interest was considerable.
The scheme --- since become a settled policy in the city-of going out after trade, of forming acquaintances in new territory, and extending the reputation of the city as a trade-center was urged as far back as February, 1898. On the 22d of March a first Jobbers' Excursion invaded northern Iowa. About fifty lead- ing men of the city convened at the Commercial Exchange on the evening of March 29, to organize a Jobbers' and Manufacturers' Association. Directors were chosen and arrangements were made for a second excursion. The directory of the new association was: T. M. Langan, A. R. Dempster, W. B. Bentley, E. J. Risser, R. M. Galbraith, George Bathrick, W. G. Jordan, John Cownie, S. S. Brinsmaid, C. C. Prouty and W. S. Palmer.
Des Moines' Famous Parks.
The Park Commissioners' report for 1898, showed that the original forty-two acres of Union Park had been increased by the incorporation of Boatman's Island-eighteen acres.
The park system now represented over $150,000-a sum deemed large at the time, but far below present values. Following is the story of Des Moines' park reduced to figures :
Des Moines Township-Park District No. I ---
Greenwood, 81 acres; cost per acre, $705.38; total cost. $ 57,136
Waveland, 190 acres; cost per acre, $150.00; total cost. 28,500
Union, 51 acres ; cost per acre, $397.29; total cost 20,26I Clifton Heights, 18 acres; cost per acre, $350.00; total cost. 6,300
Average cost per acre, $340.
$112,197
Lee Township, Park District No. 2. (East Des Moines.)- Grandview, 98.50 acres; cost per acre, $322.II; total cost. $31,728.80
Union, 10.55 acres ; cost per acre, $762.27; total cost. 8,042.00 Franklin Square, 2.50 acres ; Donated. East Park, I acre ; Donated.
Average cost per acre, $364.87.
$39.770.80
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Des Moines and the Spanish-American War.
The Spanish-American War found Des Moines ready and eager for the fray. For several weeks before the Declaration of War, preparations had been going on. An informal muster-roll had received many signatures and squads had been drilled for service. Adjutant-General Byers and Governor Shaw were in daily conference over possibilities to Iowa in the strained relations between the United States and Spain.
Thursday, April 21, soon after II o'clock, came the news from Washington that Spain had refused President Mckinley's ultimatum, thus virtually declaring war. The whistles in the factories announced the news, and soon the principal streets of the city were brilliant with bunting, and men assembled on the corners and talked excitedly of war.
That evening an enthusiastic war meeting was held in the courthouse. A. P. Lowery acted as chairman. Dr. E. R. Hutchins, unloosed a pent-up flood of eloquence as he talked of duty to country. The Harris-Emery company posted a notice to the effect that all employes who might choose to enlist would remain on the pay-roll and have their positions held for them till their return, and that should any be killed or totally disabled, the firm would pay his family $1,000. Tenders of service to the State and government came from all quarters and in large numbers.
April 22, Adjutant-General Byers notified company commanders of the Iowa National Guard, to hold themselves in readiness to respond to telegraphic orders. The companies would be directed to mobilize at the State Fair grounds. Capt. J. A. Olmsted, U. S. A., had worked out the daily rations for the expected army of 3,000 men. A forty-foot steel flag-staff was erected on the dome of the Capitol, and soon "Old Glory" floated 395 feet above the city.
President Polk, of the street car company, posted a notice on the 22d that all employes who desired to enlist would have their places held for them until their return.
On April 25, 1898, President Mckinley sent a war message to Congress. The senate passed the naval appropriation bill and the Hull appropriation bill and Congress formally declared war.
Events occurred with equal rapidity at Iowa's Capital. At 6:10 that Monday evening, Governor Shaw received a call for 3,000 infantry and two batteries of light artillery. The responses were all that could have been desired and next morning the forty-eight companies, or four regiments, of National Guards were on their way to Des Moines.
Col. James Rush Lincoln was assigned to duty as commander of "Camp McKinley," Des Moines; Maj. J. P. Davidson was made camp adjutant ; Maj. A. L. Rule, camp quartermaster, and Maj. W. S. H. Matthews, camp surgeon.
By Tuesday night all the forty-eight companies-save one-were in camp at the fair ground, and the forty-eighth arrived early the next morning.
Colonel Lincoln soon mobilized his troops and in a few days, in camp and on dress-parade, the boys bore all the evidences of service-except bronzed faces and hands, and these they were fast acquiring.
In this splendid organization were two companies from Des Moines, Com- panies A and H, Third Regiment.
The sinking of the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay, on Sunday, May 2, made the guardsmen hilarious.
On Thursday noon, May 5, the "big contract," taken by the ladies of Des Moines to give the 3,000 soldiers a complimentary dinner was fulfilled to the letter, with a degree of organization which could scarcely be surpassed.
An aftermath of this "chicken dinner" was the organization of a Sanitary Commission. Aunt Becky Young was unanimously elected president; Mrs. Henry Wallace, vice president; Miss Parsons, secretary; Mrs. F. D. Jackson. treasurer ; Mrs. J. B. Hatton, corresponding secretary. An executive committee
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was named consisting of Mesdames Hutchins, Capron, Billington, Foster, Leonard and Mckay.
On Friday, May 6, the Iowa troops passed in review before Governor Shaw and staff, and in the presence of many thousands of citizens and strangers.
Companies A and H had their own particular inning at the Savery Hotel on Saturday night, May 7, the occasion being a banquet given in their honor by the Savery Hotel Company. Governor Shaw and a number of invited guests, soldiers and civilians, sat down with "the boys" in the large and beautifully decorated dining room. W. W. Witmer, A. B. Cummins, J. S. Polk, Governor Shaw, Judge Given and Dr. Hutchins were the orators of the evening. General Lincoln, Colonel Loper and other officers were honored guests.
On the second Sunday in camp, came a "get ready" telegram from the War Department.
The hope that the Iowa troops might go to the front as a brigade was crushed by the refusal of the War Department to modify a previous order in response to pressure from Iowa.
On the afternoon of May 12, the Kinsman Woman's Relief Corps presented Company H with a beautiful silk flag.
The ladies of Crocker Relief Corps, cooperated with Crocker Post in raising money for the future relief of sick or wounded members of Company A. Accordingly Dr. Hutchins, on behalf of the Post, presented the company a check for $IIO.
In order to preserve the identity of the forty-eight regiments of the Civil War, Governor Shaw decided to name the four regiments then in camp, the 49th, 50th, 5Ist and 52d. The Des Moines regiment was no longer the 3d but the 5Ist
The physical examinations over, the Des Moines contingent of the Fifty-first Iowa Infantry found itself materially reorganized. Company A-the West side company --- passed the examinations well-only 17 failing,-eleven of these passed the second examination. Seventy-one officers and men were tentatively enrolled. The company as finally enrolled was made up as follows : 9
Company A
William R. Gibson, captain.
Frank W. Kihlbom, first lieutenant.
Park A. Findley, second lieutenant.
John A. Graham, first sergeant.
Sylvester S. Boylen, quartermaster-sergeant.
Charles St. George, sergeant.
William E. Parvin, sergeant.
Francis H. Lincoln, sergeant. .
Emery B. Smith, sergeant.
Ira J. Dresser, corporal.
Charles F. Seibert, corporal.
Harry W. Penn, corporal.
Edward F. Couter, corporal.
Edward F. Cornell, corporal.
Lorin J. Roach, corporal.
John B. Findley, musician.
Craig J. Schramm, musician.
Clarence M. Henderson, artificer.
Charles M. Beck, wagoner.
Privates-Brock, William J .; Cheshire, Carey A .; Clarke, George R .; Earle, Samuel K .; Edwards, Joseph A .; Elder, Albert E .; Fulton, Clarence A .; George, Murray M .; Guianan, Frederick; Guthrie, Arthur J .; Hart, Lyman A .; Harvey,
9 From the original rolls in the Adjutant General's office.
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Rufus H .; Haug, Aksel H .; Heindorff, Barney; Hickey, Allen; Holmes, Ralph T .; Hutchins, Edward R., Jr. ; Hutchinson, Walter E. ; Kinney, Earl R. ; Koesling, Imanuel R .; McCarthy, Richard ; Mckeon, John F .; Marsh, Walter E .; Mason; Ralph T .; Mather, Benjamin C .; Melosh, Edward; Merrill, Will J .; Miller, John R .; Paschal, Henry T .; Patterson, Blaine H .; Price, Alfred S .; Scholes, Jay W .; Sharp, George F .; Slatten, Amon M .; Spensley, Montford B .; Still- man, Wayne L .; Swanson, John L .; Thomas, Andrew H .; Thompson, Chas. W .; Tibbetts, Edwin F .; Toulouse, Joseph H .; Wall, John E .; Whitman, George A .; Williams, Mark W. ; Lanterman, Harry M .; Toulouse, John J. ; Crowell, Charles G.
The East side company, Company H, came out of the examinations with only nine failures, and six of these were reinstated after the second examination. Following is the first enrollment of Company H :
Emory C. Worthington, captain.
Ernest R. Bennett, first lieutenant.
Fred L. Baker, second lieutenant.
Alfred B. Pray, first sergeant.
Fred Robinson, quartermaster-sergeant.
Frank E. Jones, sergeant.
Frank E. Suddoth, sergeant.
Hiram L. Fickel, sergeant.
George L. Garton, sergeant.
John W. Heawilin, corporal.
Delmer J. Maricle, corporal.
Ernest W. Painter, corporal.
James B. Hedge, Jr., corporal.
Frank P. Christy, corporal.
Charles E. Stitzell, corporal.
Edward O. Fleur, musician.
Albert E. Wharff, musician.
Rufus M. Jones, artificer.
Daniel C. Newquist, wagoner.
Privates-Amend, George H .; Bain, Claude J .; Bakeman, Christopher J .; Bates, Lorenzo D .; Borduwine, Alfred J .; Brewer, Guy S .; Brewer, James W .; Brown, Charles W .; Dorfler, Leonard; DeJarnette, Henry; Doran, James W .; Drake, Almarin T .; Dunker, Harry J .; Elkins, John F .; Eustis, Edward G .; Grace, Bertrum H .; Gregg, Fred P .; Hansen, George O .; Hess, Percy H .; Hollis, Alfred B .; Jensen, Otto; Kinnaman, Noel; Kinney, Charles J .; Koppe, Charles H .; Larson, Lars A .; Lee, Robert H .; Linton, Charles M .; Long, Claude A .; Meline, Levi T .; Moershell, Fred C .; Moulton, Myron D .; McBride, William D .; McClelland, Alexander W .; Nygaard, Charles C .; Pahre, Edward R .; Ruecker, John H .; Russell, Herbert D .; Smull, Percy O .; Smull, Vernon C. ; Snure, John; Spry, Berthel F .; Sult, Frank P. ; Tillotson, Leroy R. ; Traver, Lawrence J. ; Twining, Granville H .; Turner, John; Turbett, Charles H .; Willis, Benjamin S.
These companies, incomplete in numbers, were afterwards recruited in San Francisco by recruits forwarded by the Adjutant-General from Des Moines.
The total number of men reported at Camp McKinley on the 20th of May, was 3,373, of which number the 52d mustered 936.
A memorable pageant was the Flag Spectacle, at Camp Mckinley, May 20, when 1,300 school children of Des Moines, attired in the flag colors, were so arranged on the raised seats that they presented the appearance of an animated American Flag. The 49th, the 51st, and the 52d regiments then passed in review before the flag stand. When General Lincoln passed the stand, a hun- dred children from Irving School removed their red and white capes, and there in the center of that monster living flag stood out in great letters the word "Iowa." The pageant was arranged by Mrs. H. R. Reynolds, with the hearty cooperation of the teachers in the public schools.
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The Fiftieth Iowa was the first regiment to quit Camp Mckinley. The regiment started Saturday forenoon, May 21, headed for Tampa, Fla. There was no demonstration at their departure; but the remaining three regiments escorted the troops to the train.
On the 28th, the Fifty-second took train for Chickamauga.
The old Third, now the Fifty-first, was, on the 28th, the recipient of two beautiful presents, one from the Daughters of the American Revolution and the other from the King's Daughters, of Des Moines. When the hour of dress- parade arrived, the two color-bearers bore two beautiful silken flags, the regi- mental colors and the stars and stripes, to a point in front of Colonel Loper, where Mrs. W. H. Bailey, regent of Abigail Adams Chapter, D. A. R., presented the regimental colors. Mrs. Baily was followed by Mrs. Sara Wharton Moore, president of the Union of the King's Daughters, who presented the flag. Colonel Loper feelingly responded.
On Memorial Day the 5Ist was mustered into the service of the United States.
On Saturday, June II, the 49th Iowa, the last of the "big four," departed for Cuba, via Jacksonville, leaving Camp Mckinley deserted.
A company of negroes, immune to yellow fever, organized under the second call for troops, finally completed its organization and, June 13, elected the fol- lowing officers : Captain, E. G. Willett; First lieutenant, E. G. McAffee; second lieutenant, E. T. Banks. The men were made up chiefly from Des Moines. A few days after the election came a telegram from Washington that the company must have a white captain. There was indignation over this ruling, and the disposition was to disband. But, with many, desire for service overcame the resentment, and so the old company disbanded and a new one was formed ---- but not without much friction. Representative Hull selected ex-Auditor Amos Brandt, Des Moines, as the white man to lead the company of "immunes." The com- pany cheerfully accepted the captain named for them and in due time Captain Brandt reported to Colonel Godwin in St. Louis.
The third expedition of the Army of the Philippines sailed June 27, includ- ing in its numbers the 5Ist Iowa.
Late on the night of June 2d, Colonel Loper received telegraphic orders from Adjutant-General Corbin, directing him to move the Fifty-first regiment to San Francisco at once, there to report to General Merritt. There was no mistaking the meaning of the dispatch-a voyage over the Pacific to far-off Manila.
On Sunday, June 5, at 9 a. m. the Fifty-first took cars for the Pacific-the first battalion over the Rock Island, the second over the "Q," and the third over the Northwestern-the three battalions meeting in Cheyenne. Companies A, D, F, and H constituted the first battalion. All Des Moines was down to see the boys off.
The journey of the First Battalion across country was a series of ovations, ending in San Francisco where thousands of former Iowans and others greeted them.
The destruction of the Spanish fleet soon brought peace. On August 29, Captain Olmsted began the work of disbanding Iowa troops, by mustering out the two Iowa batteries.
The Valley Junction extension, surveyed in '97, took form April 21, '98, in an incorporation of the Interurban Railway Company, the incorporators being H. H. Polk, Simon Casady and J. B. Jones,-the capital stock, $50,000. The announced purpose of the company was the construction of a street railway from the terminus of the Des Moines line at Greenwood Park to the depot at Valley Junction, the work to be completed by the close of the season. The distance is about three miles. The cost was estimated at $15,000 a mile.
A forerunner of the present market-place was a meeting of market-gardeners
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CITY OF DES MOINES AND POLK COUNTY
at the courthouse, April 23, for the formulation of a petition to the city council for a public market-place.
In the midst of preparations for war, on the 26th of April, came the Golden Wedding of Col. and Mrs. J. M. Griffiths of Des Moines,-quiet and unostenta- tious, but delightful to the many friends of the veteran and his bride of fifty years. The two came to Des Moines in 1850, where young Griffiths engaged in mercantile business, remaining until 1859. In August, '62, he entered his coun- try's service and in November following he was commissioned Major of the Thirty-ninth Iowa Infantry. At the close of the war he returned to Des Moines a full colonel.
At least a passing mention should be made to the half-century record of Maj. Hoyt Sherman as a resident of Des Moines,-a record rounded out May I, 1898. The only others in or near the city who were living in Fort Des Moines on that far-off May day, 1848, were Mr. and Mrs. P. M. Casady, Dr. James Campbell, Mrs. T. K. Brooks, L. H. Bush, James Holcomb, Resin Wilkin, E. R. Clapp, Diantha Rathburn, J. C. Jordan, Mrs. Louisa Bird, J. H. Dean, Elizabeth Cady and Guy Ayres.
There followed a brief period of excursions when it seemed as though: all Iowa was pouring in upon Des Moines, the chief point of interest being Camp McKinley. Thousands witnessed the first dress-parade on Sunday, the first day of May.
At last a permanent location for the Home for the Aged was purchased-the old Samuel D. Philbrick place, two blocks west of Science building, Drake Uni- versity. There are ten acres in the tract. . On this the $35,000 building was later erected.
At a meeting of the officers of the Home for the Aged, May 17, the announce- ment was made that the ladies had met the conditions of the offer of $20,000 from Messrs. Slimmer and Callanan, having raised about $16,000 in money and notes to the amount of about $19,000. Mrs. Martha Callanan succeeded Mrs. Durley, as president of the Home.
On June 13, the State issued a warrant for $15,000 for the purchase of the Lyon tract at Eleventh and Grand, for the proposed Memorial and Historical Building,-now one of the principal architectural ornaments of the city, and one of the most frequented. The erection and completion of the building extended over many years, owing to the insufficiency of any one appropriation to complete the structure.
Another final settlement of the waterworks question! It was announced, June 17, that the Citizens' Committee and the Water Works Company had reached an agreement by which the city would get the works for $850,000; possession given July 1, 1900; the company to pay the taxes of 1897-99, on an assessment basis of $100,000, etc. It only remained for the council to approve the deal, and for the voters to ratify it!
June 27 was notable in the history of Des Moines socially as the day which marked the fiftieth anniversary of the wedding of Phineas M. Casady and Augusta Grimmel. It is a sad commentary on the brevity of life that Judge and Mrs. Casady were the only couple living at the time whose married life in Des Moines covered the half-century period; and, of the thirty guests on that occasion only two persons were living to celebrate with them, in remembrance, this glad recurrence of the day. The two were Dr. P. B. Fagen, of Santa Cruz, Calif., who was Mr. Casady's best man at the wedding, and Maj. Hoyt Sherman, still a resident of the city of his early choice.
In the summer of '98, the citizens' committee made a strong campaign for the purchase of the water works at the price agreed upon, namely $850,000. The city had already accumulated about $70,000 from the proceeds of a two- mill tax. It had been shown in the courts that the yearly revenues of the water works at the time were at least $105,000. With the operating expenses estim-
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CITY OF DES MOINES AND POLK COUNTY
ated at $30,000, half of which to be expended in maintaining and extending the system, the citizens' committee estimated that at the end of the eleventh year the city would have paid for the plant and would have a surplus.
August 18, it was decided by the city council that a new bridge should be built over the river on Sixth avenue west and another on east Sixth street.
The question of purchase of the water works was referred to the voters of the city, August 29, and, by a surprisingly small vote, the proposition to pur- chase was voted down. Scarcely a third of the city's voting population regis- tered their will. Analyzed, the vote was regarded as not so much against mu- nicipal ownership, as against paying $850,000 for the property.
"High Carnival."
The first week in October, 1898, was given over to a carnival of huge pro- portions to which had been given the name Seni Om Sed.10 It was a week's campaign of publicity for Des Moines, on the pleasure-loving side of com- munity life. Open air band concerts, free circus exhibitions, midway shows, street illuminations, a State Shoot, an Art-Loan Exhibit, a floral parade, Jap- anese fireworks, burlesque parades, foot-ball games, horse-races and a "Battle of Manila" pyrotechnic display constituted the chief attractions. The streets in certain sections of the city were given over to the carnival. Thousands were attracted to Des Moines and tens of thousands thronged the streets. The mid- week floral parade was one of the most popular features of the carnival. Hand- some turn-outs beautifully decorated, ladies and gentlemen mounted on horse- back, and on bicycles, beautifully designed floats, allegorically significant,-these are among the best remembered features of the parade. To those who since have come to regard the carnival as a publicity feature of doubtful value, it is not easy to comprehend the extent to which this first and best carnival took possession of the Capital City.
Amusement of the lighter sort was not supreme during the week. The notable "Art-Loan Exhibit" attracted many thousands. There were nearly two hundred paintings on exhibition, selected by Prof. Charles A. Cumming. It was a notable collection in which the Des Moines Women's Club, Professor Cumming and his students, and many of the most elegant homes of the city contributed their treasures, giving a strong impetus to art in Des Moines.
A pioneer of the forties, and one of the unique characters which pioneer life accentuated, was Dr. James Campbell, whose life closed on the 9th of October, 1898. A native of Ohio, he came to Fort Des Moines in 1846. He was one of the chief boosters of the old town. Around his memory are grouped many an- ecdotes revealing a genial nature with faults that leaned strongly to virtue's side.
The death of Dr. W. H. Dickinson occurred in November, 1898, removing from the school of homeopathy its most distinguished Iowa leader, and from Des Moines one of her most beloved and respected citizens. Dr. Dickinson had practiced medicine in Des Moines for forty years and at his death was 70 years of age. He was for twenty-two years a lecturer in the State University, and for six years dean of the faculty in the homeopathic department. He had served on the State Board of Health under two Governors, and had served as president of county and state societies of his school.
The burning of the boat-house of the Des Moines Canoe Club with fourteen canoes on the evening of November 17, was a severe loss to the club and to sev- eral of its members and a temporary check on the growing popularity of canoeing on the Des Moines.
A new Turner Hall was opened, with a pleasing variety of festivities, on the evening of November 27. The society was organized in 1857.
The year 1898 closed with a record of 275 new names of business houses and manufactures added to the Des Moines list in the Bradstreet Commercial Agency
10 "Des Moines" spelled backwards.
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report. The building and enlargement of factories and the erection of dwellings and handsome residences were all the local contractors could well handle.
1899-THE RETURN OF THE 5IST FROM MANILA, ETC.
In California, in 1859, occurred the death of Wilson Alexander Scott, who had donated to the State a large part of the ground upon which Iowa's Capitol stands. He also donated "Governor's Square"-with a view to the future erection of a Governor's mansion on the grounds. The panic of 1857, with the collapse of the Capitol real-estate boom of 1856, bore down heavily upon this generous giver. Mr. Scott had gone to California in the hope of recovering his lost for- tune. Death finely ended the long struggle. His remains were brought home for burial. Forty years had passed. The brother, James L. Scott, who ac- companied the remains home from California and petitioned the legislature for a suitable monument to the memory of this generous donor, passed away on the Ioth of January, 1899. He died feeling that the State had been ungrate- ful to his brother for the sacrifices he had made.
The question of building the new court house on the old site, or on the river front, was submitted to a vote of the county January 25, 1899. Most of the outside towns of the county voted for the old site. Thirteen of the sixteen pre- cincts in the city on the West side voted for the old site. But twelve of the thirteen precincts on the East side (Lee township) gave overwhelming majorities for the river front location, giving the new site an unquestioned majority. The validity of the election and of the proposed issue of bonds to the amount of $100,- 000 for the purchase of real estate was questioned in the courts and, finally, the majority decree was ignored and the supervisors erected the courthouse on the old site.
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