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 86
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Unexpected Benefactions.
The city of Des Moines was unexpectedly enriched by the will of the late Joseph S. Lewis probated on the 24th of July, 1911. To the general surprise it was learned that a park of six acres had been donated to the city. The tract is a beautiful natural park lying north of the old Chautauqua grounds on St. Joseph avenue between Eleventh and Twelfth streets. The gift is a grove sloping northward toward the river-a tract long considered especially desirable, but not on the market. But Mr. Lewis's benefactions were not confined to the park. Property and money in excess of $75,000 otherwise placed, were given to various charitable institutions. The decedent was an old citizen of Des Moines who because of his advanced age-for he was 91 years old when he died-had not been prominent and was not known to many. He came to Des Moines soon
OLES
WAS LARGEST LUSIVE GARMENT MILLINERY STORE
OPERA
HOUSE
DRUG CO.
OWL
CIGAR
NAMILLER
FOSTER'S OPERA HOUSE Now only a memory-long the only high grade theatre in Des Moines
AUDITORIUM
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CITY OF DES MOINES AND POLK COUNTY
after the Civil war, and made fortunate investments in real estate. He bequeathed. $1,000 to the Home for the Aged, Des Moines, and $500 for the Methodist Hospital. To the Central Presbyterian Church of Des Moines he gave his home, 928 Tenth street, to be known as "the Sarah E. Lewis Home for the Poor of the Central Presbyterian Church." His largest gift is a 440-acre farm in Dallas county for the benefit of the poor of Des Moines and of Polk and Dallas coun- ties. The purpose developed in the will was that this be known as the Joseph S. Lewis farm, the proceeds from the rental of the farm to create a fund which shall be used to maintain a resting place during the summer for the poor of Des Moines and Polk and Dallas counties. It is directed that a suitable building be erected on the premises and that it be cared for and maintained. The farm was willed in trust to R. T. Wellslager and Simon Casady.1
A Market-place at Last.
On Tuesday morning at 5 o'clock, July 25, 1911, began in a small way a new epoch in Des Moines, for on that morning occurred the informal opening of a market place-affording direct communication between seller and buyer. It was a wholly out-doors affair and will be until 1912, when the city can legally enter into a contract for the erection of a market-house, the necessary funds not being available until March, 1912. Meantime plans and specifications were to be pre- pared, bids received and the contract let.
The ground set apart for the temporary market was manifestly inadequate, even with an overflow on Third street between Locust and Walnut. The number of market-gardeners and buyers on hand at an early hour, the numbers who con- tinued to come-from five to ten o'clock-and the numbers who stayed "to see how it works"-was altogether a surprise. The on-looker accustomed to the involutions of modern business was impressed with the simplicity of the plan for bringing together those who have produce to sell and the men, women and chil- dren of the city who are eager to avail themselves of the opportunity to save the middleman's profit. Every available space was filled and the good-natured, smil- ing countenances of both buyer and seller told the story of mutual satisfaction in the new arrangement. The traffic in garden and orchard truck soon settled down to a regular system, with a steadily increasing number of buyers and sell- ers,-thus, in advance of any expenditure by the city, carrying out in large meas- ure the expressed desire of the voters. With a permanent market-place in pros- pect for 1912 Des Moines makes another approach toward the city her citizens see in their dreams-a city in which the welfare of the poor is the predominant thought in every public purpose.
A Vanishing Landmark.
When the curtain rang down on the last act of "The Country Boy" Satur- day night, September 2, 1911, the locally historic Foster's Opera House passed into memory. For a third of a century this amusement center had contributed to the entertainment of the public. During the thirty-three years of its existence its stage had been traversed by most of the great actors and actresses of America and many of the great of other countries. Long antedated by Moore's Opera House, and for several years a rival of that pioneer house, it had long held first place in the affections of amusement lovers. With an average of a hundred attractions a season, and of six hundred in attendance, it was estimated that from first to last more than two million tickets had been taken at its doors. Foster's successful career as an amusement caterer began in 1878, when the Academy of Music was opened to the public. A log cabin on the corner of Wal- nut and Eighth streets was pulled down to make place for it. The Register at the time referred to the event as the commencement of "the second era in the
1 The heirs of Mr. Lewis are contesting the will.
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CITY OF DES MOINES AND POLK COUNTY
metropolitan growth of Des Moines." Four or five years before, "the oid- fashioned uncomfortable hall of the village life of Des Moines" had given place to "the stately opera house (Moore's) of city days." But "the march of im- provement" had demanded "still greater facilities," and so the Academy of Music came into existence. It was originally an up-stairs house; but had long ago been converted into the Foster's Opera House known to a later generation with first floor entrances and exits.
On the 28th of September, Mayor Hanna named seventeen members of a Social Betterment commission, who will investigate the social and moral condi- tions of Des Moines. The mayor's plan is far-reaching and much is expected from the commission's reports.
The third visit of William H. Taft, and the second visit of President Taft, occurred on the 29th of September, 1911. The presidential train arrived early in the forenoon, and the president and his party breakfasted with about two hundred prominent citizens at the Grant Club. Governor Carroll, Senator Cum- mins, Representative Prouty and Messrs. Cowles, Young and Hale of the three dailies formed the reception committee-in-chief. Behind these were the Greater Des Moines Committee, the Commercial Club and citizens generally. A hearty reception awaited the President at the club-breakfast. The President's frankness and geniality won for him many friends. His few informal remarks were in excellent spirit and were well received. At the Coliseum a magnificent audience of many thousand rose to greet him. His address was disappointing to those who had hoped to hear him discuss the questions on which factional lines had been drawn: but in his presentation of the subject-matter of the recent treaties with Great Britain, France and Germany, and in his argument in support of the treaties as they were written, without the proposed amendments of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, he evinced a masterly power of state- ment.
The discharge of a conductor in the employ of the Des Moines City Rail- way Company, on information given by an inspector, which the Union on in- vestigation believed to have been without foundation in fact, precipitated a strike on the 5th of August which, on the evening following was ended by a temporary injunction issued by Judge DeGraff, of the District court, commanding the strik- ers to resume work and the company to restore the discharged men subject to arbitration as to the facts in the case. The legal soundness of the mandate was questioned by strict constructionists ; but no one doubted the equity of it,- assuming that the public have rights which corporations and their employes are bound to respect. Late in September, Conductor Hiatt was again discharged, and with him were discharged two other men, in the company's employ, Roberts and Bruce by name. The alleged facts were again disputed by the Union and again arbitration was agreed upon. The company chose as its representative N. T. Guernsey, its legal adviser, and the Union, A. L. Urick, president of the State Federation of Labor. The two met daily, each offering lists of men from which the other was invited to select a third arbitrator. Finally on the IIth of October, after it was found that the accepted choice of the Union, ex-State Treasurer Gilbertson, could not serve at once, Mr. Urick accepted John A. Guiher, an attorney of Winterset, Iowa, recommended by Mr. Guernsey, and the impending calamity of a strike was a second time averted, much to the relief of the public. The arbitration resulted, October 28, in sustaining the action of the company as to Hiatt and Roberts and restoring Bruce to his former position. The action was unanimous as to Bruce. As to the other two Mr. Urick dissented.
An event of much interest locally, on the 22d of October, 1911, was the celebration of the 8Ist birthday of Rev. Dr. Frisbie, the beloved pastor emeritus of Plymouth Congregational Church. Rev. J. Edward Kirbye, ex-Governor Garst, and Rev. Henry Wallace voiced the general congratulation.
The Knights of Columbus, Des Moines Council, No. 644, had outgrown its modest quarters before the building long occupied by the society was pulled
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CITY OF DES MOINES AND POLK COUNTY
down. The recent sale of the building compelled the society to rent or build. It decided to rent temporarily and build for all coming time. A directorate was created which met, October 12, 19II, to consider details preliminary to the erection of a capacious club house. The directorate consists of John A. Hol- land, E. J. Kelly, Emmet Powers, Mgr. M. Flavin, J. C. O'Donnell, John McDer- mott, Jerry B. Sullivan, John Cottrell, William McKinley, V. F. Hayden, G. B. Harriett and M. P. Halloran. The Knights of Columbus building is one of the many prospective buildings of 1912.
The death of Carroll Wright, Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota solicitor for the Rock Island railroad, occurred in Colorado Springs, October 28, 1911. Mr. Wright was the second of the three surviving sons of the late Judge George G. Wright, from whom he had inherited a large measure of legal ability and of ca- pacity for friendships. His sudden death was a shock and a sorrow to all who had known him from his early youth, and to many friends of later years. He came with his parents from Keosauqua to Des Moines when he was twelve years old, and had resided in the city ever since. His widow is a daughter of John A. Elliott, deceased, former auditor of state. His funeral was held in Des Moines, Novem- ber I.
1
CHAPTER XII.
THE DES MOINES OF TODAY.
The phrase "Des Moines does things" is no idle boast. It has a basis in well- established facts. President Stickney, of the Great Western railroad, a few years ago styled Des Moines a "city of opportunities." Since the utterance of that felicitous phrase, so many opportunities have been improved that men who have profited by them are wont to speak of Des Moines as a "city of certainties."
Measured by the census, by postoffice receipts, by bank clearances, by the vol- umė of manufacturing and of trade, wholesale and retail, by real estate transfers, by front-foot prices for business property-in any way you will, the evolution is demonstrable in progress.
Measured æsthetically, the city's evolution has been equally marked. The new architecture everywhere in evidence, the Municipal building, the City library, the East Des Moines high school, the new grade schools, the new churches, the new substantial and artistic bridges, the viaduct spanning the railroad tracks, the new and renewed office, department store, newspaper, bank and retail store build- ings, the new and massive manufactories, jobbing houses and ware-rooms, and the hundreds of new and modern dwellings-all attest the response of Des Moines to the new spirit in architecture. The parks, public institutions and public amuse- ments of the city, accessible to all, enable the humblest citizen of Des Moines to get more out of life than most cities have to offer, enabling him to feel that he is "a citizen of no mean city."
All save one of the great trunk lines of railroad entering the state make con- nection with Des Moines. All the great life and accident insurance companies of America and all the great fire insurance companies of the world are repre- sented in Des Moines.
Many more state and national conventions are annually held in Des Moines than in all the other cities of Iowa. The new Coliseum, with a seating capacity of 10,000, settles for many years all question as to the best meeting-place for large bodies of men and women. The hotels of Des Moines with more rooming capacity, many times over, than that of any other city in the state, will soon be supplemented by another larger fireproof hotel; and that to be followed soon by at least one other.
The several colleges and schools of Des Moines, supplemented by an available city library of over 50,000 volumes and a state library of about 130,000 volumes, are steadily increasing in attendance and equipment.
The electric lighting of Des Moines is unsurpassed by that of any other city in the West.
Let a few comparisons further illustrate the subject. The capital invested in manufactories1 in 1905 was estimated at $9,594,000; in 1910 it had nearly doubled, having reached $17,880,000-a gain of about 86 per cent in five years. The value of the products manufactured in the city in 1905 was estimated at $15.085,000 ; the same in 1910 was $23.585,000, a five years' gain of 56 per cent. The jobbing business of Des Moines is reported as having proportionately in- creased, the aggregate in 1910 estimated at $103,000,000. The retail business of
1 As announced by the Greater Des Moines Committee.
636
Old Postoffice
The First Postoffice in Des Moines erected by Hoyt Sherman in 1852, on Second Street, near Vine
FOF 51
The Third Postoffice in Des Moines, east side of Third, near Court Avenue Vacated 1870
New Postoffice
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CITY OF DES MOINES AND POLK COUNTY
the city in 1910 was estimated at over $70,000,000. The clay industry in Des Moines is reaching large proportions. In 1908 the output of the plants in Des Moines was $560,006; in 1910 the output of the fourteen plants in the city amounted to $678,608. Assistant State Geologist Leas recently remarked, there is about the city an "almost limitless quantity of raw material easy of access, easily handled, and capable of a wide range of utilization." The city's bank deposits aggregate over $33,000,000, its banking capital and surplus, $4,500,000. It has 387 manu- factories employing 7,361 men, jobbing houses employing 860 men; the one representing $17,880,000; the other, $7,000,000, in active capital.
These illustrations of the status and promise of Des Moines gives in epitome the outcome of much striving, many individual, corporate and collective successes and many small failures which proved the bases upon which successes were after- ward builded.
Enormous Increase in Postal Receipts.
The first postoffice in what is now Des Moines was the old Agency house. Josiah Smart, Indian agent, was appointed postmaster December 13, 1845. Dr. Brooks, appointed March 2, '46, removed the postoffice to his home on Court avenue in the I. N. Thomas addition. P. M. Casady, who succeeded Brooks December 31, '46, removed the office to one of the log houses vacated by the dragoons. Later, he housed it in his law office, on Second street, south of Vine.
Robert L. Tidrick was appointed October 26, '48. Hoyt Sherman was ap- pointed June 26, '49. He built a small office on Second street, and there re- mained undisturbed for several years. Wesley Redhead came into the position February II, '53, and later removed the office to the Sherman block. John Teesdale came in with the Lincoln administration -- or soon after-May 5, '61. George C. Tichenor succeeded him, April 18, '67, removing the office to a small building on Third street back of the Sherman block. In '70, the capacious gov- ernment building, corner of Fifth and Court, was completed, and the postoffice was moved to the first floor. James S. Clarkson became postmaster July 28, '71. John Beckwith, his deputy, succeeded him, March 4, '79. William H. Merritt was appointed by Grover Cleveland, August 13, '86,-the first democrat to re- ceive the appointment since Mr. Tidrick's time. Isaac Brandt, republican, was appointed June 3, 1890. Since Colonel Merritt's time the republican record has been unbroken. Following completes the list: Edward H. Hunter, July 26, 1894, to September 17, 1898; Lewis Schooler, September 18, 1898, to December 9, 1902; John McKay, Sr., December 10, 1902, to March 18, 1907; Joseph I. My- erly, March 19, 1907, to June 1, 1911 ; Louis C. Kurtz, June I, 19II.
In the spring of 1910 the postoffice was removed to its present palatial quar- ters.
In 1888 the total receipts were $108,966.70. The total of letters received was 4,471,527; letters sent, 6,126,435-this exclusive of nearly a million postal cards received and more than a million sent.
Now note the enormous growth of the postoffice business during the last 21 years-as measured by the total receipts to July I, of each year : 1890-$124,- 883.42 ; '91-$138,881.37; '92-$156,322.35 ; '93-$176,520.44 ; '94-$177,193.62 ; '95-$184,559.29; '96-$208,445.48; '97-$210,632.57; '98-$230,442.96; '99- $252,855.44 ; 1900-$295,752.36; '01-$335,126.38 ; '02 -- $386,963.35; '03-$441,- 754.28; '04-$463,476.19 ; '05-$478,106.63 ; '06-$532,416.71 ; '07-$566,311.65; '08-$616,334.53; '09-$688,067.49 ; '10-$764,048.83; 'II-$804,943.49.
Des Moines' High Standing Among the Chief Cities of the Country.
To be named in a list of thirty-three cities outside the state of New York that conform in all respects to the severe requirements of the laws of New York rela- tive to savings bank investments, is the highest tribute which could be paid to the financial stability of the new city of Des Moines. In the Saturday Evening Post of July 22, 1911, an expert on the value of municipal bonds, Roger W.
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CITY OF DES MOINES AND POLK COUNTY
Babson, by name, tells the story of the undoing of investors, and the consequent ruin of many a city's credit, by the issuance of bonds not adequately safeguarded. He points the moral by advising the would-be investor to buy only the duly accred- ited or so-called "straight" municipal bonds-bonds that can stand the test of sav- ings bank investment in states in which such investments are safeguarded. He finds the savings-bank laws of New York "most often given as a guide." The vital part of the New York law is in substance, that "the total debt of the munici- pality must not be more than seven per cent of the entire valuation of the taxable property," and that "the city must not have been in default on principal or interest since 1861." Mr. Babson has before him a list of all the cities in the country which are included within the requirements of the New York law, and as a guide to small investors in municipal bonds he names "a few of the more prominent." In this limited list are included thirty-three cities outside the state of New York as follows :
Portland, Me., Boston, Cambridge, Lowell, Worcester, Springfield, Mass., Providence, Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, Newark, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Harrisburg, Reading, Scranton, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dayton, Louis- ville, Indianapolis, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Des Moines, Omaha, San Francisco, Los Angeles, St. Louis and Kansas City.
UTICA BUILDING
HARRIS-EMERY COMPANY
FLEMING BUILDING
YOUNKER BROTHERS
YOUNGERMAN BUILDING
CHAPTER XIII.
THE DES MOINES OF TOMORROW.
The work of a year is done. Doubtless it could have been done more satis- factorily by another ; but it could not have been done more conscientiously. Di- vested of rhetorical flourish and free from mere "story" for the story's sake, it cannot fail to serve at least one useful purpose, that of presenting, within the compass of a few hundred pages, an outline history of the city of Des Moines "from the earliest period to the present time," conveying to the present genera- tion a series of impressions of the lives led by the aborigines, the explorers, the dragoons, the river navigators, the pioneer farmers and merchants, the railroad promoters, the capital builders, and, at greater length, the city creators,-and, along with these successive impressions, the trend of the daily life of the people of the community during the successive stages of its evolution from garrison town to metropolis.
Since first-hand material cannot last long, since men who make our local his- tory are fast passing away, and even some of the pages of the newspapers from which the author draws first-hand material have already become well-nigh illegi- ble and must soon crumble to dust, it is not too much to claim for this work, with all its faults and failings, a more or less useful place in future historical col- lections. As the work of Turrill in '57, that of Dixon in '76, and that of Porter in '96, with all their errors, have proved invaluable to the would-be historian of IgII, so the faulty work of the present cannot fail to be of service to the better equipped historian of the future and to future students of Des Moines and of its historical river.
Between the lines of the history outlined in these pages, there is another story, which the discerning reader cannot have missed. Running through the years- from the first concerted purpose of the pioneers to claim title to the land they had made valuable, down to the so-called political revolution-the actual social evolution culminating in 1906-the men who stand for something-who do things -have been of the sturdy type of citizen-have been men who "know their rights, and, knowing, dare maintain." They have been patient and long-suffering, and at times have been gentle with their would-be betrayers: but, once aroused by sense of wrong and by a purpose to right the wrong,-they have proved as irre- sistible as the rising tide. Forth from old conditions has come a new civic pride, working admirably with civic righteousness. With a steadily developing collec- tive consciousness of right and of the fitness of things, is coming a sense of power, and this strong combination is a new asset which will have to be reckoned with in the Des Moines of tomorrow.
Fortunate in its location and in its history, having long since passed the ex- perimental period, Des Moines now fronts the future with a degree of assur- ance never before felt. Its public-spirited promoters dare advertise it as a "city of certainties," a city in which "prosperity is a habit." With public spirit and civic pride manifest in every citizen-from the humblest laborer to the richest capi- talist-the Des Moines of 1911 faces the future with a confidence measured only by her ever enlarging opportunities.
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BOOK IV. POLK COUNTY.
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PART I.
FROM AN INDIAN RESERVATION TO FIRST PLACE AMONG THE COUNTIES OF IOWA. 1846-1911. -
ALLEN-BEAVER-BLOOMFIELD-CAMP-CLAY-CROCKER -- DELAWARE-DES MOINES-DOUGLAS-ELKHART --- FOUR MILE-FRANKLIN --- JEFFERSON-LEE -LINCOLN-MADISON-SAYLOR -- VALLEY -- WALNUT --- WASHINGTON- WEBSTER.
Vol. 1-41
Walnut Creek
Rose Hill
Des Moines Brick Co.
Terrace Hill
West 9th
Capitol Hill
A. Geological section from Capitol Hill to the mouth of Beaver Creek
lowa Brick Co
Flint Valley
Devil's Gap
Thompson's Bend.
Rawsons Tile- yard
Capito! Hill
B. Geological section from Capitol Hill to Walnut Creek
CHAPTER I.
POLK COUNTY GEOLOGICALLY.
The author is under many obligations to James H. Lees, Assistant State Geologist of Iowa, for his scholarly and interesting contribution to Polk County History. Dropping, for the time, the technical style of the professional geologist, Mr. Lees presents the subject with a rare degree of clearness. His contribution, somewhat condensed, is as follows :
The oldest rock known in Iowa is the Sioux quartzite, sometimes, although incorrectly, called Sioux Falls granite. This is not a granite but simply a sand- stone which has been hardened by infiltration of silica between the grains. It has not been reached in Polk county but it underlies the later formations over the entire State.
After a time the sea, in which this sandstone had been laid down, retreated from our area and through long ages the Sioux quartzite was exposed to the agencies of water and atmosphere which tend to wear away the solid rocks. Then in the course of time the land was again covered by water and a great series of sands and clays and limy mud were deposited over the ocean floor.
The period of time during which these beds were laid down is known as the Cambrian. The sea did not invade the Mississippi valley until the later third of Cambrian time and so the deposits representing that period in Polk county are referred to as the Upper Cambrian, or Saint Croix. They are the lowest formation reached in the Greenwood park well. Practically all the different rocks found under Polk county's surface, with the exception of some of the coals, and perhaps accompanying strata, were laid down in shallow oceans which covered the interior of North America.
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