USA > Iowa > Pottawattamie County > History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa. Containing a history from the earliest settlement to the present time biographical sketches; portraits of some of the early settlers, prominent men, etc. > Part 30
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the southwest corner of Bancroft street and Broadway. Residence building also was stimulated beyond precedent, and has known no abatement since that hour. Two impor- tant fires took place that winter -- one the de. struction of the original Transfer Hotel and its surroundings, and the other the burning of the furniture factory of John Chase, and a row of buildings on North Main street, on the north side of Indian Creek. Fortune merely saved a great portion of the city on the latter occasion. The hand engine owned by the city had been sold and removed. The steamer was at the foundry, taken apart, and no fire appliance, in one of the coldest nights that ever blew, was available except the apparatus of Phoenix Hook and Ladder Company, which was admirably served.
As the time for the election in the spring of 1876 approached, there was a disposition manifested to take the election of city officers out of politics. With that in view, a mass convention of citizens was called for the court house, about three weeks before the election, on the first Monday in April. Leading citi- zens took part in its deliberations. A com- mittee was appointed, of which John T. Bald- win was Chairman, to select candidates on a citizens' ticket. No other nominations had yet been made. The committee reported, for Mayor, E. L. Shugart, and the recommenda- tion was ratified without a dissenting voice. Both the Globe and the Nonpareil indorsed the action of the convention, and, for the inter- vening three weeks it seemed as if no other choice would be presented than to ratify at the polls the selection made in the mass con- vention. On the Friday evening before the election, which was to occur on the Monday following, a petition, signed by over three hundred laboring men, was presented to John H. Keatley, asking him to become the oppo- sition candidate. Assent was given, and,
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when the polls were closed on Monday even- ing, it was found that Mr. Shugart was beaten by a majority of 43S votes, after one of the most hotly contested elections ever held in the city. The Aldermen elected at the same time were Lewis Hammer, M. Keating, C. R. Scott and W. C. James. E. W. Jackson was elected City Marshal, and G. A. Holmes chosen City Attorney by the City Council. through the casting vote of the Mayor, the contest being between Mr. Holmes, Democrat, and W. S. Williams, Republican.
W. F. Sapp was nominated by the Repub- licans at their convention held in Council Bluffs, for Congress. The early spring and summer were devoted by him and William Hall, of Mills County, to a preliminary fight in their party for the nomination, but on the first ballot Sapp was declared nominated. L. R. Bolter, of Harrison County, was nominated by the Democrats, and the two contestants entered upon a long series of joint discussions throughout the district, closing the campaign the night before the election by an immense meeting at Dohany's Hall. A few days before that, the Nonpareil appeared with a detailed statement of charges of gross immorality against Mr. Bolter. The charges were so bold, and expressed in such harsh terms, that many Republicans, holding Col. Sapp re- sponsible for their currency, voted against him. Both candidates occupied the "fiat currency " platform, and leaned to greenback- ism in all their discussions. The majority was too large for Mr. Bolter to overcome, un- der the circumstances, and he was beaten in the race.
This being Centennial year, the 100th an- niversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the citizens of Council Bluffs put forth extraordinary efforts to celebrate the Fourth of July. The display was the finest then ever seen in the city. The fire
department. St. Patrick's Benevolent Society and many other civic societies, and the Coun- cil Bluffs Light Artillery, under Capt. J. W. Ropelje. paraded and marched to the park, where the ceremonies took place and the ad- dresses were delivered. At night, a magnifi- cent exhibition of fire-works was given by the fire department from one of the lofty bluff's south of Broadway.
The City Council, during the summer, un- dertook to control and manage Indian Creek, by entering upon the construction of what is known as the Olive Street Ditch, from Stew- art's packing house southward beyond the Rock Island round-house. The contracts for the work were made and the improvement en- tered upon, when a series of injunctions were begun by the owners of lots contiguous to Olive street to restrain the city from inflict- ing permanent damage on those properties by the digging of the water-way. Deterred by the formidable character of the claims pre- sented, the Council canceled the work and settled with the contractors for work already done.
The spring election of 1877 was also a memorable one. John T. Baldwin was nomi- nated by the Republicans, and W. R. Vaugh- an ran as an independent Democrat. Large sums of money were spent on both sides to secure a victory. Bands of music were hired, and paraded the street all day long, and the most intense excitement was manifested by the majority of the voters. The election of Mr. Baldwin was secured by a large majority. His term of service in that office was charac- terized by one of the most perplexing ques- tions ever presented to the executive officer of a city. It was the year of the great railroad strike. The mob had destroyed millions of railroad property in Pittsburgh. Gov. John F. Hartranft, who had gone West through Council Bluffs on a pleasure trip, was hurried
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home by the call of a telegram advising him of the terrible emergency, and the train which bore him eastward through Council Bluffs went as swiftly as the wind. When intelli- gence reached this point of the work of the mob in Eastern cities, the lawless here began to organize to take advantage of the excite- ment and the fears of the people. The men who were the head and front of the offending here were not those who toil and are provi- dent, but are improvident. A gang of men came up from the quarry work, along the line of the Kansas City road; young men who had no other object than excitement boarded incoming North-Western trains, and made a mob's noise and a mob's demonstra- tion. At the depot they were joined by a hooting collection and a motley crowd, and, parading Broadway with torches and yells, they created apprehensions which their num- bers would scarcely justify. As a part of the programme. they demanded of Mayor Bald- win a supper at the Ogden House, and the Jack Cades at their head announced veng- ance for non-compliance. The mob encamped in the open air during that July night, in the park, and made the night hideous and terrible with their wild noises. With drawn pistols, they compelled engineers and firemen to abandon their locomotives, and put out the fires and patrolled the freight-yards to see that their orders were obey od.
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The business men of Council Bluffs met at Rescue Engine House, on North Main street, that night, and organized a military company, and armed themselves with such weapons as were at hand, and held themselves in readi- ness for such an emergency as might arise. Twenty Spencer carbines hung in the armory of the Council Bluffs Light Artillery, at the headquarters of Phoenix Hook and Ladder Company. on upper Broadway, with three rounds of ammunition. The Governor, in re-
sponse to the request of Mayor Baldwin, placed this squad of men under his control, and the latter kept the men at their quarters day aud night to guard against the capture of the arms by the mob, should they attempt it, furnishing the men from the table of the Ogden House with subsistence. The City Council met and took into consideration the disturbed state of the city, and authorized the Mayor to increase the police force by spe- cial appointment. Sheriff Kahle, in aid of the Mayor, called out the posse, and, in the afternoon of the third day of the troubles, the court house was filled with the stanchest men in the city, many of them ready armed, to bring the crisis to a focus. Twenty men of the Light Artillery, with loaded carbines, marched to the public park and stacked arms to await the result of the deliberations of the citizens in the court house. The principal part of those who had engaged in the lawless demonstrations of the preceding days and nights were in possession of the St. Joe round-house, sullenly and partially awaiting events, and, in some respects, overawed by the earnest manifestations of the citizens. The result of a few moments' debate at the court house was the appointment of a delegation of citizens, at the head of which was B. F. Montgomery, to proceed to the St. Joe round- house and notify those there of the ultimate consequences of their conduct, and of the res- olution of the citizens to make quick and sharp work of any further riotous demonstra- tions. The deputation had its desired effect. The meeting separated, subject to the call of the Sheriff in case hostility was resumed, but that evening the mob of lawless strangers melted away, and the railroad embargo ceased.
The Aldermen elected in the spring of 1877 were Henry Dawson, A. C. Graham, W. S. Pettibone and J. W. Rodifer. The ever-re-
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cnrring question as to how to permanently bridge Indian Creek presented itself in the necessity for a new structure at Bryant street. It was demonstrable that the old system of piling, with an iron superstructure, was a failure. A new system was devised, under the direction of City Engineer Judson. It was the driving of piles side by side, at low water level, on each side of the stream, as a foundation for a stone arched bridge. Be- hind this, clay was rampped, and theu, the top of the piling being cut to a level, upon this were placed heavy stone abutments from the top of which was sprung a single stone arch. This work was completed during that year, at a cost of about $6,000, but there is every possible indication that the plan thus adopted is the only one of a durable charac- ter. It has justified the selection of a similar plan for the Madison street bridge this year (1882), under the supervision of City Engi- neer Thomas Tostevin, and the work on which is now almost finished,
At the city election in 1878, Dr. N. D. Lawrence was again elected Mayor, Mr. Bald- win having positively declined to allow the use of his name again for that office. Joseph Ross, John Epeneter, George H. Tabor and George H. Bicknell were chosen Aldermen at the same election. Mr. Bieknell, at the time, was the Superintendent of the landing of all the freight transferred from the Iowa rail- roads to the Union Pacific, and vice versa. The stimulus given the prosperity of the city by the favorable decision of 1875 kept even with the energies of the people, and there was no abatement of building, and publie and general improvements. The St. Louis & Council Bluffs Railroad Company, occupying the route of the company which had under- taken, under the management of Gen. Ham- mond, to build a road from St. Louis by the way of Chillicothe. Mo., were pushing their
road, under the auspices of Jay Gould and the Union Pacific, to this point. In that connec- tion reference has already been made to the efforts of that company to secure the levy of a tax of about $180,000 as a donation from this city, and the causes which thwarted the plan.
The Congressional contest in the district was conducted with some degree of interest The Greenback party held their convention at Council Bluffs in May, and nominated the Rev. William Hicks, of Montgomery County. The Republicans met at a later date, and re- nominated W. F. Sapp, he not having oppo- sition in his own convention. The Demo- crats met in convention at Council Bluffs in August, and placed John H. Keatley in nom- ination. Only a few joint discussions took place during the canvass between Sapp and Hicks, but the Democratic candidate, making a thorough canvass of the district, spoke only at such points as were designated to him by his Central Committee. Upon canvassing the votes, it was found that Sapp's majority over both the opponents was 329. Several weeks before the election, an effort was made to obtain the withdrawal of Hieks, alleging as inducement that, inasmuch as Gen. Wea- ver, the Greenbacker in the Sixth District, aud Gillette, in the Seventh, had received the hearty indorsement of the Democrats, the Greenbackers should yield a clear field to the latter in this, the old Eighth. This arrange- ment could not be effected, and the campaign ended as it began.
Fairs, festivals and theatrical entertain- ments constituted the amusements of the peo- ple during the seasons appropriate to such recreations. Council Bluffs was visited by some of the most talented people on the stage -Maggie Mitchell. Kate Claxton, John T. Raymond. Lawrence Barrett, and others of a like reputation throughout the country.
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Among distinguished lecturers were Henry Ward Beecher and Robert Ingersoll.
At the spring election of 1S79, Col. Addi- son Cochran was elected Mayor, on the water works and what was known as the Union avenue issues. F. A. Burke had been unin- terruptedly elected City Recorder from 1869, frequently having no opposition, his name being printed on both tickets; but at this election, R. C. Hubbard, now one of the edi- tors of the Nonpareil, an avowed Democrat in principle, became a candidate against Mr. Burke, and succeeded in defeating him. The Aldermen elected at the same election were A. C. Graham, for a second term: G. H. Jackson, John H. Nicholas, and Jacob Will- iams, one of the editors of the Globe. This Council took steps, soon after its organiza- tion, to secure seventy-five acres of land in tne southeastern part of the city, in order to lay out and improve Fairmount Park. By varions decrees and negotiations, that end was accomplished. Earnest efforts were also made in the direction of water works. It be- came evident that manufacturers could not be induced to seek location here unless an abundant supply of water was provided. A large sum of money was placed in the hands of the Mayor, and a committee, of which Ja- cob Williams was Chairman, for the purpose of obtaining the proper estimates of the prob- able cost of such an improvement, and J. D. Cook, an hydanlie engineer, was employed to carry out that design, and made an elab- orate report on the subject, which was printed and largely distributed. He estimated the cost, bringing the water from the Missouri River. the only feasible plan, at $350,000. The amount was startling and discouraging to many, and was certainly beyond the reach of the city, in its corporate capacity, ham- pered as it was by existing debt, and limited by the State constitution as it was in the
matter of incurring further liability. It be- came clear to all that the only reliance was upon private enterprise, under proper mnuie- ipal control. No definite plan was formu- lated during the year. The St. Louis & Council Bluffs Railroad was finished during the year, and in November a consolidation was effected, which constituted the road a material portion of the great Wabash system.
By an ordinance, approved on the 4th of October, 1978, Union avenue was established from a point on Broadway, near its intersec- tion with Ninth street, diagonally to the Union Pacific Depot, an avenue nearly six thousand feet in length and 120 feet wide, to constitute the principal thoroughfare between the central part of the city and the Union Pa- cific Transfer. To provide funds for open- ing and improving this avenue, a special election was held in the early part of 1879, upon the question of the issuance of $25,000 in the bonds of the city, and the proposition was carried by a large majority. John T. Stew- art & Co., who owned a considerable number of ice-houses, standing on the line of the proposed street, objecting to the proposition to increase the indebtedness of the city for the improvement, sought to restrain the issu- ance of the bonds, on the ground that the limit of the city to contract debt had been reached, and alleging that the outstanding warrants must be included in any estimate of the city's indebtedness. This view was ac- copted by Judge Reed in deciding the case in the District Court, and a perpetual injune- tion was granted. The city appealed to the Supreme Court from this decision. but the latter court affirmed the order made.by Judge Reed and continued the injunction. A spe- cial levy was then made of taxes to cover the expense of procuring the right of way and executing the work, and, in 1SS0 and 1881, nearly one-half of the necessary grading was.
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done. The condition of the finances of the city in 1882 made a suspension of the im. provement necessary. Its resumption is only a matter of time, as it has gone too far to be abandoned.
The State Democratic Convention mot at Council Bluffs on the 30th day of May, 1879. The greater portion of the delegates arrived the evening before, and an immense mass meeting was held at the corner of Broadway and Bancroft streets, at which Judge Kin- ne, of Tama County, and Hon. W. A. Stow, of Hamburg, spoke. The convention was called to order by Hon. Ed Campbell, Jr., of Fairfield, the veteran Chairman of the State Democratic Committee, and Hon. James Ha- german made temporary Chairman. Hon. A. C. Dodge, ex-United States Senator, was chosen permanent Chairman of the conven- tion, and delivered an interesting address, upon taking the chair. Among the leading members of the convention were W. W. Wit- mer, then editor of the Des Moines Leader, and Hon. John P. Irish, of the Iowa City Press. T. J. Potter, General Manager of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, was a delegate from Des Moines County, and was appointed on the Committee on Resolu- tions, and assisted in making the State plat- form. Col. Harry H. Trimble was nominated for Governor, and the gallant crippled sol- dier, Capt. Joseph Yeoman, of Fort Dodge, for Lieutenant Governor. The fire depart- ment of the city gave a grand parade in the forenoon, and attracted considerable atten- tion, and won the applause of the many vis- itors by their admirable appearance and dis- cipline.
The spring election of 1SSO resulted in the choice of W. C. James for Mayor a second time, though the terms of two incumbents in- tervened since he held the office last. Among the most prominent and valuable improve-
ments inaugurated in the early part of the year, was that of erecting a new three-story school building in the Fourth Ward, on the site of the old two-story brick, nearly oppo- site the Presbyterian Church, now known as the Bloomer School. In addition to the three principal stories is a large basement. It was not the design to transfer the high school to that building, when it was first de- signed, but the public had conceived such a prejudice against the high school building, on the summit of the bluff, that when the Bloomer School was ready for occupancy, in September, 1881, it became necessary to as- sign the high school classes to those quarters, and to use it for high school purposes, in ad- dition to making it a ward school proper. A clock was also provided for the handsome bell tower 165 feet high, the bell which was for- merly in use at the Presbyterian Church be- ing the one used for striking the hour.
The Republican Congressional Convention held in the court house here, was one of the most memorable political events of this lo- cality. The nomination of Col. W. P. Hep- burn. of Page County, was, after one of the most arduous of struggles, three days and nights having been spent in attempting to make a nomination. Robert Percival, of Council Bluffs, was made the Democratic candidate, and stumped the district, Mr. Pa- sey, elected in 1882, accompanying him, and also making some speeches. C. R. Scott, of Council Bluffs, was chosen a Garfield Dis- trict Presidential Elector, in 1880, Maj. An- derson of this Congressional District, also having been chosen one of the electors-at- large. Robert Percival and Jacob C. Mor- gan were sent by the Democrats as delegates to the National Convention at Cincinnati, the former as a district delegate, and the latter was elected by the State Democratic Conven - tion, held in that year at Burlington.
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At the spring election of 1881, W. R. Vaughan, as a Democratic candidate, was elected Mayor, over C. R. Scott and Col. D. B. Dailey. F. A. Burke, former City Re- corder, and R. C. Hubbard were opposing candidates again for the same office, and Mr. Burke was successful.
At the meeting of the State Fireman's ; Association, in 1880, Conncil Bluffs was des- ignated as the place of next meeting, and the time, the 7th. Sth, 9th and 10th of June, 1881. The fire department of Council Bluffs, under the management of Thomas Bowman, B. Newman, P. Lacy, John N. Beckley, G. A. Holmes, the President of the department, and others of equal enterprise, made the most ample preparations for the event. Weeks were spent in preparing the grounds in the northwestern part of the city, adjoining the North-Western railroad track. Commodious buildings of all kinds were erected, and many acres of ground inclosed like a fair ground. The track upon which the trials of speed during the tournament were to take place, was 300 yards in length from east to west and 60 feet wide, hardened, graded and rolled until it was one of the most perfect race tracks in the world. Every building in the city, almost, was decorated and draped with flags and bunting, and an immense tri- umphal arch was sprung from the four cor- ners at the intersection of Broadway and Main streets. The meeting of the State As- sociation was held at Burhop's Hall on the 7th. On the Sth occurred the grand parade. Forty-six fire organizations, from various cit- ies and towns in the State, took part in this vast demonstration. The parade was under the direction of John H. Keatley, as Chief Marshal, and was more than a mile in length. Ten bands of music attended it, and it was witnessed by fully 30,000 people along the line of march. Among the distinguished vis-
itors of the day were Hon. John H. Gear, Governor of Iowa, who spoke eloquently to the State firemen, in the public park. The afternoons of each day of the tournament were taken up with hose races, trials of fire engines and appliances of all kinds, witnessed by many thousand people from the great am- phitheater within the grounds. A most bril- liant illumination closed the festivities of the second day. Balls were given by the Coun- cil Bluffs firemen to their comrades from abroad. Among the victors in the lists were the Rescues, of Council Bluffs, of which the present Mayor, Bowman, was Captain, and the Bluffs City. Both teams took State prizes. The event closed without a single accident to mar its pleasures. At the elec- tion of officers of the State Association, Oscar Allen, of Marshalltown, President for the preceding year, gave place to Gen. Lyman Banks, of Muscatine, and Muscatine selected as the place of meeting for 1882.
A great furor was created in transporta- tion circles during the latter part of the sum- mer by an attempt made by Mayor Vaughan to introduce what is known as the Herdic coach for street travel, in opposition to the street car lines. Peter Herdic, of Williams- port, Penn., visited the city in the interests of these coaches, and some six or seven of them were put on various lines of travel on principal streets, with fare at 5 cents, but when the fall rains set in, and the unpaved streets became impassable for that class of vehicles, it was demonstrated that, with the streets in that condition, they were impracti- cable, and were abandoned.
For several years, there was a suppressed wish to change the form of the city govern- ment by abandoning the old special charter, but no definite effort was made until 1881. A petition, containing the names of a requi- site number of voters, was presented to the
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City Council. and, in obedience to the stat- ute, they appointed the 3d day of October as the day of a special election, on which the question of abandonment should be decided. The proposition carried by a handsome ma- jority. The City Council, owing to a claim that the polls had not closed at the proper hour, refused to canvass the vote, urging that it was no election. A writ of mandamus was sued out before Judge Reed, to compel them to count the votes, the suit being insti- tuted by George Keeline, at the instance of the friends of the measure, to operate the city under the general public incorporation laws of the State, instead of under the old special charter, but before a final decision was reached, a compromise was effected, and an order made that the election for city officers should occur on the 7th day of March, 1882, for a term of two years.
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