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 58
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HON. P. M. CASADY Pioneer Postmaster of Des Moines, 1846.
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lessons. On the whole, the candidate left a favorable impression upon his hearers.
The first "tag day" in Des Moines, October 10, netted $2,700 for the Home for Friendless Children. In the afternoon nearly every man on the street wore the red tag, so thoroughly was the canvass made.
The prediction of President Roosevelt that Taft would beat Bryan "to a frazzle" was verified by the headlines on the morning of November 4. The confidence of Governor Cummins in his own election to the Senate over Major Lacey was equally well founded. For the first time since the resignation of George G. Wright, the Capital city could now boast a United States Senator.
Governor and Mrs. Warren Garst, assisted by Senator and Mrs. Cummins and others, gave a reception at the Capitol, November 24, on the occasion of the assembling of the legislature to ratify the special senatorial primary. Many from the city greeted the new governor and senator. The primary was duly ratified and Albert B. Cummins, who first became a candidate for the senator- ship in 1893, was finally a full-fledged United States Senator. His election for the long term followed at the next regular session. The fight having once been made, nobody felt disposed to renew it.
The year 1908 was one of marked progress in Des Moines. In 1907 the building permits aggregated $1,021,903; in 1908, the aggregate was $898,509; but the real estate transfers of 1907 totaled $7,880,679.57 ; while those of 1908 were $8,202,512.71. Business, wholesale and retail, pushed ahead rapidly. Many local houses enlarged their business capacity. The retail district was much enlarged during the year. Among the new buildings of 1908 were the Y. W. C. A., the Des Moines National Bank, the new Grant Club, the hotel on Eighth and Mulberry, the quarter-block of the Hubbells on Eighth and Walnut, and the Western Electric Company building on South Fifth. Several elegant apartment houses and many fine residences were erected during the year. The influx of new residents with capital extended the city limits in all directions.
1909-THE EVENTFUL LAST YEAR OF OUR "FOUR DECADES OF PROGRESS."
The year 1909, the last year of our "Four Decades of Progress," began with abundant promise of material growth-which promise was amply fulfilled. An estimate of a million dollars to be expended in the city during the year 1909 was deemed an understatement-as it proved to be. Just ahead could be seen, in the mind's eye, the new Municipal Building, the Coliseum, the Chase & West building on Eighth street, the enlargement of the Des Moines Life building and other big improvements. The Greater Des Moines Committee and the Com- mercial Club, working in harmony for one common purpose, did much to develop the down-town improvements of the year.
Capt. J. W. Muffly, forty-four years a resident of Des Moines and prominent in Grand Army and Loyal Legion circles, died on the first day of the new year, 1909, aged 69. In 1865 he came to Des Moines from Pennsylvania, and founded the Iowa Business College, and continued at its head for eleven years. Since that time he had held several positions of trust.
The selection of the veteran farmer-editor, Henry Wallace, of Wallace's Farmer, as one of the Commission to inquire into the conditions of country life, was a high honor paid by President Roosevelt to a ·distinguished citizen of Des Moines.
A made-in-Des Moines banquet was the novel feast to which two hundred business men sat down at the Commercial Club banquet, at the Savery on the night of April 22, the Des Moines companies contributing the entire menu. The feast proved a healthful stimulus to a local application of the slogan, "Patronize home industries."
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The first big fire in the spring of 1909 destroyed the old-time Essex building on Sixth avenue, a memento of the Lowry Goode failure. A new block was soon erected on its ruins, by Boody, Holland & New.
A fire broke out on the night of May 10, which destroyed the building of the New York Wall Paper and Stationery Company on Fifth and Court, and . an adjoining building owned by A. C. McCune, incurring a loss of about $150,- 000. New and modern buildings soon replaced the old structures.
Fred Harbach, one of the oldest German-American pioneers of Des Moines, died at Salt Lake City, May 2. He came to Des Moines in 1855, and was prominent in business circles, and in the Elks and Pythian lodges. Mr. Har- bach was keeper of the records and seals of Myrtle-Capital Lodge for forty years. He was one of the organizers of the German Turners' Society in Des Moines in 1857.
An event in the sporting world occurred in the auditorium at the Fair Ground in Des Moines, on the evening of June 14, which was heralded far and wide- the final "meeting" between Thomas Jenkins, the world's champion wrestler, and Frank Gotch, the sturdy young Iowan ambitious for world-championship. The event was witnessed in the stock pavilion at the fair ground, by about seven thousand people. It was of short duration, the Humboldt, Iowa, athlete pinning the champion's shoulders to the mat,-the first time, in less than fifteen minutes, and the second time in less than eight minutes.
The entrance of Congressman William B. Mckinley of Champlain, Ill., and the financial interests represented by him, into relations with Des Moines was marked, July 15, by the announced sale of the Des Moines Electric Company to him and the capitalists behind him. His announcement that he would favor- ably consider the development of any attractive field for interurban railroads in Iowa confirmed the rumor that he proposed to interest himself in the street- car system of Des Moines, provided the franchise question could be settled to his liking. This was the beginning of a campaign in the interests of Mr. Mckinley which finally closed by mutual consent, as between the city council and the company.
George Garver, a resident of Des Moines since 1871, founder of the Garver Hardware Company and president of the Enterprise Coal and Mining Company, died July 25, aged 78.
Senator Cummins' Triumphal Return.
Senator Cummins' return from his initial services in Congress was signalled by a reception and ovation on the evening of August 9. The special session had brought the junior senator to the front of debate on subjects upon which few senators were as well equipped as himself, by reason of ability and extended legal experience ; and he came out of the session with flying colors. On arriving in Des Moines he was greeted by several thousand friends and admirers and an automobile parade was formed, with him at the head of it. A monster ovation awaited the Senator. As the Register and Leader well said, "Had Senator Cummins won a victory every time he suffered defeat at the hands of Senator Aldrich and his cohorts, he could have received no higher testimonial of admiration and esteem than were tendered him by his fellow-townsmen." The Senator frankly and familiarly talked to his friends and neighbors of his recent experiences. Tributes of praise were extended him by the democratic mayor, Mr. Mathis, A. L. Urick, president of the State Federation of Labor, Lucius Wilson, secretary of the Greater Des Moines Committee, L. A. Jester, from the East Des Moines Commercial Club, Geis Botsford, secretary of the Commercial Club and Harvey Ingham for the public generally. It was such a demonstration as is rarely accorded any public servant.
MR. AND MRS. ISAAC BRANDT Married November 1, 1849
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General Grant Number Two.
Frederick Dent Grant, son of General U. S. Grant, was an honored guest of Des Moines on the last day of the summer of 1909. The special occasion was a campfire in the assembly tent on the State Fair grounds. Governor Carroll cordially welcomed General and Mrs. Grant to Iowa. The General responded in conversational tone, with no attempt at oratory, thereby-as in general appearance-resembling his honored father. He pleasantly recalled the famous reunion in Des Moines in 1875. He referred to his father's much discussed Des Moines speech on free schools, which Cardinal Antonelli, then primate at Rome, pronounced "one of the most effective political enunciations of the century." The General read from manuscript an interesting narrative of his own experiences during the Civil war. The Grants remained in Des Moines until the following evening, the objects of many social attentions.
Death of Isaac Brandt.
Isaac Brandt, one of the most prominent of the little group of old pioneers of Des Moines, died on the night of September 12, leaving a vacant place in several circles, notably that of the Pioneers of Polk County, the Octogenarian Society and the Baptist church. He was apparently in vigorous health to the last, when at the age of 82, a stroke of apoplexy removed him from the loved ones about him. Mr. Brandt was a picturesque character. Tall, erect and strikingly resembling the full length portraits of Washington, his was a figure to attract attention anywhere. Only on the coldest days, could be be induced to wear an overcoat. When others were shivering with the cold, his cheeks were glowing with health. He was another of the old-school gentlemen to whom the Des Moines of to-day owes much-those preachers by example of the good old gospel of courtesy and good-will. Mr. Brandt came to Des Moines in 1856, making the trip from Iowa City by stage. Thence he walked to Council Bluffs, spending four days on the way. He speedily returned and opened a general store on East Fourth and Locust streets. During the war Mr. Brandt's home was a station of the "underground railroad." John Brown was his friend and had been his guest. He was a member of the Fifteenth General Assembly and for six years was Deputy Treasurer of State. He was for years a successful real estate dealer and at one time was reported to be rich; but reverses came and left him in moderate circumstances. To Mr. Brandt, more than to any other man, the State is indebted for the permanent location of the State Fair on the beauti- ful site now occupied. In '84, the General Assembly appropriated $50,000 for a site adjoining a city that would raise a like amount. He undertook to raise the $50,000 and succeeded. In '83 President Arthur appointed him one of three commissioners to inspect two sections of the Northern Pacific Railway, and in '90 President Harrison appointed him postmaster of Des Moines. Mr. Brandt was one of the most public-spirited of men. During his last years he lived much in the past and was an authority on local history, as these pages testify.
President Taft Visits Des Moines.
In his first "swing around the circle," in 1909, President Taft arrived in Des Moines early Monday morning, September 20. The city was resplendent with flags and banners. Arriving at 7 o'clock he was driven to the home of Senator Cummins for breakfast. At 9.35 the President was in his place at the reviewing stand near the Soldiers' Monument and ten minutes later the grand review of troops began.8 At the head of the procession rode the soldierly General Morton, followed by as fine a body of men as were ever in line. The commander-in-chief graciously acknowledged the salutes of the General and the colonels, and stood with uncovered head as the regimental flags passed before him.
8 Described on succeeding Dages.
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The reception given the President by the vast audience assembled to hear him was reported as lacking somewhat in enthusiasm,-though there was surely no lack of courtesy. Some were inclined to attribute the absence of vigorous de- monstration to certain utterances in the President's Winona speech, three days before, which were construed by many as an attempt to read out of the party those republicans in Congress who had voted against the Aldrich Tariff bill. The absence of applause during the progress of the speech was in a measure due to the fact that the President read from manuscript and was closely confined to his text. It might be added that the address,-including a plea for a special com- merce court,-was one which a popular audience could not closely follow. There was also a disturbing murmur of voices from the thousands on the Capitol grounds who could not even hear the speaker's voice.
The Great Tournament of 1909.
An event in the military history of Fort Des Moines No. 3, and of the city of Des Moines was the coming of regular army troops from Forts Omaha, Crook, Riley, Russell, Meade and Crawford to join with the troops of Fort Des Moines in a series of army manœuvres lasting from the 20th to the 26th. The plans in- cluded the presence of 5,800 troops on the Fair grounds at the State Capital. These represented all branches of the service. The week opened with a grand parade of all the troops, with five military bands, through the main business streets of the city, passing a reviewing stand near the Capitol, where the Presi- dent reviewed them.
There had never before, and there has never since, been a tournament quite equal to that of 1909. The manœuvres were brilliantly executed, and the at- tendance broke all records. Every day's program began with a review of the troops. There was necessarily some repetition from day to day, but the audiences daily evinced increasing interest. The program each day contained some original feature. The regular programs included the drill by saddle squad and by bare- back squad, infantry drill, artillery drill, building and demolishing bridge, Butt's manual-a fancy drill, wall-scaling, Roman race, signal corps drill and contest, musical sabre-drill, machine-gun contest, rescue race, section contest-mountain battery, hospital corps race, packing contest, skirmish race, relay race, section contest-field battery, wireless telegraphy, and-every day-the concluding tug of war. The derigible balloon, with Lieutenant Lahm at the helm, made a few successful flights during the week. The first day's attendance on the manœuvres was about 20,000, and every man, woman and child was delighted with the day's performances. The attendance during the week placed large sums of money to the credit of the fund for the annual manœuvres and enabled the management to give large prizes to the winners in the several contests.
Camp Corse, on the fair grounds, had been formally opened the Sunday be- fore, with Brigadier-General Charles E. Morton in command. About seven thousand people visited the camp during that first day. Monday morning the reveille was sounded at 6 o'clock and after a hurried breakfast the troops pro- ceeded to the city where they formed for the grand review. The troops in line were : Second Cavalry, Col. Frank West; Fourth Cavalry, Maj. James Lockett ; Fourth Field Artillery, Capt. H. L. Newbold; Fifth Field Artillery, Capt. O. L. Spaulding; Seventh Cavalry, Captain S. R. H. Tompkins; Fifteenth Cavalry, Maj. W. F. Flynn ; Sixth Field Artillery, Capt. Edward Hill ; Medical Corps, Capt. J. W. VanDusen ; Thirteenth Infantry, Col. R. H. Loughborough; Sixteenth In- fantry, Col. L. A. Gardner.
The Commercial Club, the Hyperion Club and other organizations did much to make pleasant the stay of the army officers in the city. The crowning social event, however, was the ball given by the Greater Des Moines Committee at the Shrine Temple on the evening of the 23d. Congressman Hull and Mrs. Charles Denman led the grand march with General Morton and Mrs. Hull following.
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The seventy-sixth birthday of Gen. Cyrus Bussey was celebrated at the Sixth Avenue home of the General's son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac L. Hillis, on the evening of October 5. Among the old army friends present was General Winslow, whose presence added to the interest of the occasion. General Bussey was a member of the Eighth General Assembly and colonel of the Third Iowa Cavalry. He commanded a brigade at the battle of Pea Ridge and was in command of the advance of Sherman's army against Johnson's army to Jackson, Miss. His home is in Washington, D. C.
More than two hundred business men banqueted Congressman Hull at the Grant Club on the night of October 14, as a renewed expression of their appre- ciation of what Mr. Hull had done for Des Moines. Representatives of various organizations and of all parties were present and happy speeches were made to which the Congressman happily responded.
A notable character was that of Edward Entwistle, an old time locomotive engineer who had the distinction of having made, with the inventor, George Step- henson, the trial trip of the "Rocket," from Manchester to Liverpool in 1831. Mr. Entwistle died in Des Moines October 30, at the age of 94. His three daugh- ters and one son were with him at the last. Mr. Entwistle came to Des Moines in 1856 and was engineer in the Perrier-Shepherd mills, on the east bank of the river. Later, he made several trips as engineer on river steamers. Later still, he became engineer of the Ankeny mills. He was the oldest Odd Fellow in Iowa.
The new Princess Theatre on Fourth street was thrown open to the public by Elbert & Getchell November I. The after-success of this stock-company- popular-price theater was remarkable.
The National Grange met in Des Moines early in November and remained in session ten days. The meetings were in the main secret. Sir Horace Plunkett, the Irish agriculturist and reformer, attended the sessions on the IIth, and ad- dressed that body on cooperative methods in agriculture. On the evening of the 12th, he addressed the Prairie Club, describing farm and town conditions in Ire- land. He was the guest of Henry Wallace.
The great Coliseum, fathered by the Greater Des Moines Committee, was in- formally opened November 29, for the seventh annual exposition of the Iowa Corn-Growers' Association. Jerry B. Sullivan delivered the address of wel- come for the city, E. J. Curtin for the State Agricultural Society and Governor Carroll for the State. Prizes to the amount of $20,000 were contested for. Many papers on practical subjects were read.
The contract for the erection of the new Municipal Building was let, Decem- ber I, to Charles Weitz's Sons of Des Moines, for $301,960. There were four- teen bids, the highest $374,094.
"History repeats itself"-but always with variations. Major Riché heading a party of army engineers, after examining the Des Moines river, preliminary to a survey, reported his conclusion that the river was navigable between Des Moines and its mouth and could be profitably improved. The next step was a survey.
Charles Mulford Robinson, the famous landscape architect, in an extended report developed a plan for making the Des Moines river a civic center, with a boulevard parkway system connecting every public park with the center. The plan was taken under serious consideration, and afterward, with modifications, adopted.
A Year of Unusual Progress and Promise.
The last year of the Four Decades of Progress closed with a very satisfactory showing and with unusually bright prospects. In the judgment of men who know it was declared to be the most prosperous year in the city's history. The year's realty transfers aggregated $9,063,650, an increase of $861,143 over the previous year, and more than a million in excess of 1907. More than three millions were
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expended in the city during the year for building and improvements, public and private. The rise in the value of down-town, front-foot property during the year was remarkable, and yet only the beginning of a substantial advance. More than forty factories were reported as having located in Des Moines during the year, their total capitalization nearly a million dollars. Many large corporations established branches in Des Moines, buying or erecting buildings for their use. Several new additions were platted and put upon the market and the lots found numerous buyers.
Much money was expended on the school buildings of the city to provide room for the fast-increasing number of school children. The F. M. Hubbell, the T. K. Brooks and the Byron Rice schools were erected, at a cost respectively of $60,000, $64,000 and $18,000.
The chief building items of the year were: the Coliseum, $127,000; the Grant Club, $30,000 ; the Des Moines College, Nash Hall, $75,000; the Younker Broth- ers' addition, $100,000 ; the Victoria Hotel addition, $90,000; the Princess theatre, $75,000; the White Line Transfer warehouse, $100,000; the Des Moines Na- tional Bank, $75,000; Chase and West, $80,000; Blue Line Transfer warehouse, $100,000; Hawkeye Transfer warehouse, $75,000; F. M. Hubbell, Eighth and Cherry, $75,000; Van Evera & Robinson, Walnut, $60,000; Des Moines Life In- surance addition, $150,000; and University Church tabernacle, $80,000. Dur- ing the year 900 residences were erected.
Bradstreet's commercial agency, in a comparative statement of improvements in cities, in September gave Des Moines first place in percentage of increase. Chicago's percentage was placed at 49.7, that of Indianapolis, 49.5; Denver, 13; Columbus, 17; Baltimore, 55.8; Des Moines, 730!
Thus in a blaze of achievement and promise closed the four decades of prog- ress which it has been our task to outline.
BOOK III. DES MOINES.
PART V. SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES.
1858-1911.
CHAPTER I.
THE SCHOOLS OF DES MOINES.
In the reorganization of the schools of Des Moines in accordance with the new school law of 1858 the school district of Fort Des Moines known as Dis- trict No. 5 became Sub-district No. I of the City of Des Moines, and the part of the city east of the river became Sub-district No. 2. From this reorganiza- tion until August, 1859, the schools of East and West Des Moines were under one board, of which R. L. Tidrick was president; J. W. Laird, secretary ; A. J. Stickney sub-director for the West and A. Y. Hull sub-director for the East Sub-district.
West Des Moines, 1858-19II.
In August, 1859, the electors residing east of the river voted to organize an independent district. At this time West Des Moines had but one school build- ing, erected in 1856 as a cost of about $10,000, and known as the "Brick" school house-later as the "Third Ward School." This pioneer building stood at Ninth and Locust streets and accommodated more than 300 children, there being at times a hundred children in a single room. Soon after its erection it ceased to be adequate and for several years prior to the erection of a second school build- ing, in 1863, the board was compelled to rent rooms for school purposes. The first teachers of the West Des Moines schools, elected October 16, 1858, were W. P. Smith, Bina C. Moulton, Adda (Adelaide) L. Bausman,1 Sallie Houston, Ellen Hedge and Mollie Norton. The branches taught were orthography, pen- manship, reading, arithmetic, geography, grammar, history, geometry, algebra and plane trigonometry. A committee of three ministers, Messrs. Bird, Jocelyn and Remsburg were appointed a committee by the board to visit the schools.
After the separation of the East and the West schools, in 1859, a special election was held in the West Des Moines district to choose a school board for the remainder of the year ending March, 1860. This election resulted in the choice of J. A. Nash as president and C. C. Dawson, secretary. Two abler or more useful school officers could hardly have been chosen. It seems unfair, how- ever, to write of these men and their work without mentioning Benjamin Say -. lor, Thompson Bird, Byron Rice, P. M. Casady, Hoyt Sherman, R. L. Tidrick, W. H. Leas, and many others who deserve the gratitude of the present gener- ation, for these men stood for free schools when they were not as popular as they are today.
In response to a petition of twenty-one residents of the north part of the city it was voted August 22, 1859, to establish a school of two teachers in the Fourth Ward. This, the second school in Des Moines, was first known as the Fourth Ward school, and later as the Crocker school. A building was not erected until 1863, the school being held till then in rented rooms. The following notice was printed in the Iowa Weekly Citizen of September 7, 1859:
SCHOOL NOTICE.
The Directors of School District City of Des Moines, West Side, hereby give notice that the Public Schools of the city will open on the second Monday in
1 Mrs. Frank R. Laird, 1823 Oakland Avenue, Des Moines.
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September, 1859, and continue in session twenty-four weeks, allowing two weeks vacation during the holidays. The following teachers have been employed :
In the Brick School House :
Mr. James R. Cary, Principal.
Miss Lois Clark, Assistant, Ist Dept.
Miss Bina C. Moulton, Assistant, 2nd Dept.
Miss C. A. Bloodgood, Assistant, 3d Dept.
Miss Mary E. Norton, Miss Ellen Hedge, Assistants, 4th Dept.
Miss Adda L. Bausman, Class teacher.
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