USA > Iowa > Wapello County > History of Wapello County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 11
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HISTORY OF WAPELLO COUNTY
Roberts. Dahlonega; judges, Edward Hazzard, Isaac Hill, C. Gleason. Adams ; judges, James F. Adams, R. V. Holcomb, Lawson Bradley.
At the first session of the commissioners roads were ordered laid out and viewers appointed.
For several years the greater part of the commissioners' records was made up of orders relating to the viewing and making of new roads. The first supervisors of roads were appointed at the May meeting and their names follow : Washington-Joseph Myers, Henry Smith, John Priest ; Pleasant-James Kennedy, Slaughterback, Charles Dudley ; Dahlonega-James Phillips, W. H. Blanchard, James Weir; Center-Paul C. Jeffries, Peter Hall, William Logan. Richland-Anthony Miller, James Wright; Columbia-Martin Tucker, Abner Overman, John Miller; Ivers (now Green and Keokuk)-S. J. Vasser, Joseph McIntire; Adams-James F. Adams.
J. P. Eddy was granted a license to keep a ferry at Eddyville at the July session of the court. The prices established were: Footman, 614 cents ; man and horse, 183/4 cents ; two horses and wagon, 377/2 cents; four horses and wagon, 50 cents; cattle, 4 cents; hogs 2 cents. At this same meeting Henry Smith & Company were authorized to construct a dam across the Des Moines River on section 27, range 12; a tax of 5 mills on the dollar was authorized, and a poll tax of 50 cents; a jail was ordered built on the east end of lot 136, block 11, Louisville, but definite action postponed. A free ferry was ordered across the Des Moines River at Louisville (Ottumwa), "provided the Appanoose Rapids Company sustains one-half the cost of the building and maintenance of the same."
At the April term, 1845, Anderson Cox secured a license to operate a ferry across the Des Moines River, one and one-quarter miles above Louisville.
The board agreed upon the specifications of a jail at the May term. A plan for a two-story log structure was chosen. W. W. Chapman was appointed attorney for the county.
The commissioners ordered, at the August session ( 1845) that the names of Francis Harrow and Robert M. Ramsey be stricken from the mill and dam charter, and that the company proposing to build a mill at Louisville be allowed until March, 1847, to complete the undertaking. The original charter was granted by the board of commissioners of Jefferson County in 1843, while Wapello was a part of that bailiwick, to F. M. Harrow, R. M. Ramsey, David Armstrong and Joel Myers & Company. The action of the Jefferson County Board was thus approved.
The first official adoption of the name Ottumwa for the county seat was at the November meeting, in 1845. Previously to this time Louisville had been the name more frequently used.
The site for the jail was changed to lot 140, block II, and the contract for the structure was let to David Armstrong, the price being $2,000.
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HISTORY OF WAPELLO COUNTY
No mention is made of preliminary proceedings for the erection of a courthouse nor is there anything in the record to denote when the first courthouse was built. In the January session of the board in 1847 an order was issued for repairs on the courthouse by Thomas Sinnamon and Snod- grass & Hill.
In many essentials the early records of the commissioners' and county judges' courts are very meagre and unsatisfactory. No records of elections, reports of county treasurers as to the financial condition of the county, and other important details were made by the clerks, which leave many blank spaces that might have been filled with interesting data.
THE FIRST COURTHOUSE
The Commissioners' Court sat in a primitive structure, a crude log cabin, one story in height, built of unhewn logs, which were chinked with sticks held in place by clay. The building was covered with clapboards. It stood on a lot between Fourth and Fifth streets, immediately east of the public square. This old affair answered its purpose for a few years and then was abandoned and later torn down to make way for a more modern building.
The old log cabin has been designated as the first courthouse, but the first building erected by the county for public use and known as the court- house was built in 1846 at a cost of $1,000. This was a frame structure, 24×24 feet, two stories high, and stood on the corner of Market and Third streets. The lower floor was used for the sessions of the courts, religious and political meetings, dances and the like; also as a schoolhouse. The second story was divided into three rooms, which were occupied by the clerk of the courts, the county recorder and county treasurer. Previous to the advent of the board of supervisors in 1861 this courthouse had been under the domination of the county judge. At the January term, 1861, it was resolved by the board that the courthouse should be placed under the control of the sheriff and the key kept in his possession and it was further declared that "said courthouse shall not hereafter be used for the purpose of dancing, or any other business except for the ordinary and legitimate purposes of the county, and for religious services and public lectures on scientific or literary subjects; provided, that the sheriff shall in such cases rent or let the room only to responsible parties."
When the county built the brick courthouse the old one was sold to the Christian Church, and was used by them for a place of worship for several years, until it was purchased, with the lot, by W. C. Grimes. It was incorporated by Mr. Grimes, with other structures erected by him in a wagon manufactory, and was consumed by fire on the 22d day of October, 1872.
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HISTORY OF WAPELLO COUNTY
THE SECOND COURTHOUSE
The second building for county offices and for the courts was erected in 1855, under the administration of Silas Osburn, county judge, and cost $13,000. The structure was a very modest two-story brick, of probably 40x60 feet ground dimensions. There was no tower or belfry. The Dibble brothers-Joseph and David-burned the brick and John J. Adams was the contractor. This old courthouse faced the park. On the first floor, to which a flight of stone steps led to the front door, was a corridor, running full length of the building. On the left, or west side, of this corridor, were the treasurer's and recorder's offices; on the right, the auditor's and clerk of the court's offices. On the south end of the upper floor were jury rooms, one on each side of a passage way, at the end of which was the entrance to the courtroom, which covered three-fourths of the second floor. The building stood on the east one of the two lots occupied by the present courthouse, and was torn down in 1891, to make way for its successor.
Capt. S. B. Evans, in an address delivered on the occasion of the laying of the corner stone of the present temple of justice, referring to the second courthouse, said in part : "That one which was used for many years, and until it was removed to give place to the magnificent edifice you have assisted in constructing-the old brick courthouse-was modest, if not homely, in appearance; but we would not speak lightly of it. To all the older residents of the city and county there are associations blended with its existence that they would not have forgotten.
"The forum of justice was none the less majestic though the temple was lowly and unpretentious. Within its walls there have been historic gatherings. Here resounded the eloquence of Dean (Henry Clay Dean), in his wonderful defense of a murderer. Nominating conventions of the two great parties have named the officers of the county through successive years. The statesmen and public speakers of Iowa have addressed the people. The thrilling oratory of the war period stirred the blood of young men, and beneath the roof they enlisted under the starry banner and marched away to fight the battles of the Union.
"In the absence of opera houses the courtroom served as theater or lecture hall, and when church organizations were poor it was used as a house of public worship. The old courthouse served us faithfully and well, but in the march of events and growth and prosperity of the county it must needs give way to something better."
Upon the same occasion, after describing in a general way the "old brick courthouse," Judge E. H. Stiles contributed a moiety of his remem- brances pertinent to the order of the day, excerpts of which follow :
"That building which will be known among you as the 'old courthouse,' though it was not the first one, that having been a wooden structure standing, I should say, on the site now occupied by the wholesale mercantile
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HISTORY OF WAPELLO COUNTY
establishment of J. H. Merrill & Company, had been completed the year before I came. In my mind's eye I can still see the smooth, white tablet of stone incorporated into the brick work on the front, high above the doorway, and on which was conspicuously carved 'Erected in 1855. Silas Osburn, County Judge.' Good, quaint, old-fashioned Silas! I can see him yet. Broad-shouldered, thick-chested, somewhat clumsy of movement, his head already whitened with the frosts of many winters, giving a pleasant dignity to his mien, while his accommodating manner gave constant assur- ance that he failed not to remember that he was the servant of the people. Long since he passed away.
"Among the other county and probate judges were Paul C. Jeffries and Joseph Flint. The former was already an old man when I became acquainted with him. He had been a member of the Appanoose Rapids Company, which founded the town and platted in the wilderness the very ground where this building stands and gave numbers to the lots on which the principal structures of the city are now located. He was less rustic and had more skill as a business man and public official than Osburn. His books and papers were models of neatness and accuracy, and as for himself, a more accommodating, kind and lovable man never graced a public office. If all who have enjoyed official favors had been like him, Shakespeare, in enumerating the burdensome ills of life, would have been obliged to omit from the category which Hamlet recites, 'the insolence of office.' He was a courtly old Virginian, upright in character, chivalrous in conduct and graceful in manner. His wife was a perfect counterpart of himself. They came here when this was a wilderness; they lived here until they attained a venerable old age, shedding like the fragrance of the flowers the gentle influ- ence of their lovable characters upon all around them. Their daughter is the wife of our distinguished friend, Judge Hendershott, and I can pay her no greater compliment than to say that she resembles both her parents.
"Judge Flint was a combination of doctor, preacher, and politician. As a doctor of the botanic school, there were many who had a high opinion of his skill; as a preacher, of what was called the Hardshell Baptist school, he was considered eminently sound, and as to the length of his discourses I can testify that I once heard him in what we will call the old courthouse preach with great vigor for two hours. He had reached his seventeenth point. I should like to have stopped longer, but I had some other matters that I wanted to look after during this mortal life. As a politician, I do not believe there was ever a more sagacious and influential one in Wapello County. He could get anything he wanted. He was a most efficient public officer and in the state legislature, to which he was sent by the county, he maintained an influential position and was recognized as a man of force. The fact is, Judge Flint was a man of no mean ability ; and, taken all in all, an extraordinary one. He was an alderman when I first knew him. He, too. has long since crossed the dark river.
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"I should like to touch upon many others of the early county officers, to speak a word of Joseph Hayne and James M. Peck, of D. F. Gaylord, of D. H. Michael, of Henry Williams, of William Lewis, George A. Derby, Simeon Chaney, Sam Swiggett, Hugh Brown, J. W. Workman, Lee Godley, Erastus Washburn, William C. Thompson and others. But time forbids and I must confine the remainder of what I have to say to the old courthouse, and to the judges, lawyers and incidents that have made it
historic. . Let me add that the old courthouse, the site of which is now occupied by this one, was invested with a historic interest and replete with historic events. It was here we gathered regardless of party when Sumter was fired on and aroused the people to arms. It was here that the meetings were held to raise contributions for the comfort of our brothers in the field; and it was here that the bodies of those who were forwarded from the field where they had fallen, were laid in state. This hall has again and again resounded to patriotic appeals in that dreadful time of war; and from its walls, if they could give back the echo, could be heard forensic force and arguments of the highest order. Here I listened to Augustus Caesar Dodge and Governor Kirkwood when they were pitted against each other for the gubernatorial office; to the cultured and classic Fitz Henry Warren, and to Benjamin M. Samuels, the most Adonis-like and handsome man I have ever seen and the most eloquent I have ever heard."
PRESENT COURTHOUSE
The old brick structure, erected in 1855, outlasted its usefulness by many years before it was abandoned and torn down. The need of a new building had been patent to many, especially to the men who were chosen of the people to office and had their headquarters in the courthouse. The com- munity had grown both in population and wealth, and the old courthouse was inadequate to the needs of the county officials. A movement finally made headway for the building of a new and modern temple of justice, which reached a culmination at the November election of 1891, when the electorate of the county by a majority of 1,373 authorized the issuance of bonds to the amount of $100,000 for the purpose of erecting a new building.
Plans drawn by Foster & Liebee, a firm of architects of Des Moines, were accepted and the contract for the courthouse was awarded to C. Staf- ford, of Ottumwa. The building committee of the board of supervisors was composed of O. P. Bizer, Norman Reno and Samuel Johnson.
With appropriate exercises the corner stone was laid with Masonic rites September 28, 1892, and on the 17th day of May, 1894, the present substan- tial and architecturally beautiful edifice was dedicated. The committee of arrangements for the function was composed of W. H. C. Jaques, Norman Reno, M. A. Roberts, J. C. Jordan, S. H. Harper ; president of the day,
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Photo by Shaw
COURTHOUSE, OTTUMWA
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HISTORY OF WAPELLO COUNTY
O. P. Bizer. Among others who delivered appropriate addresses were W. II. C. Jaques, Judge H. B. Hendershott and Hon. E. 1I. Stiles.
The Wapello County courthouse is a majestic structure, standing out boldly and picturesquely on elevated ground, situate on the corner of Court and Fourth streets. The material is rough-cut sandstone. Ground dimen- sions about 101 feet on Fourth and 94 feet frontage on Court Street, not including a 14-foot landing from the front steps to the entrance. At the apex on a pedestal inserted in the center of the facade stands a heroic figure of the Indian chief, Wapello, after whom the county takes its name, and on the east corner is a high, commanding tower, in which is a clock, whose dials can be seen day and night. There are three floors and a cellar, and with the plumbing and heating apparatus, furniture and other equip- ment, the stately pile cost the county $1 35,000.
COUNTY JAILS
The first building put up by the county for confinement of malefactors, was erected in 1845. a primitive log structure, one story in height, which stood on lot 140, block 11. This is immediately east of the Young Women's Christian Association building on Third Street. Samuel H. Burton, county surveyor, recalls the old building to memory quite clearly, and remembers that the front door was of heavy oak timber, thickly studded with spikes. After its abandonment as a jail the old bastile was converted into a black- smith shop. The second jail was built in 1857, on Court Street, upon the site of the present building and cost $9,000. This was a two-story brick structure and as a jail looked the part, and performed its part in the order of things, until torn down and in its place was erected in 1911 one of the finest and most substantial county prisons in the state of Iowa. The building occupies the north part of the courthouse lots and is constructed of steel and stone. The architectural design is simple and pleasing. The rear of the courthouse and south side of the jail are connected by a stone causeway. over which prisoners are conducted from and to the prison into the second story of the courthouse. The jail, with its massive steel cages and other appurtenances cost $46,000, and was occupied in January. 1912.
COUNTY INFIRMARY
In the beginning, and for a number of years, the poor and indigent of Wapello County's citizens, upon application for help and support from the treasury, were "farmed out" to individuals and in a way cared for. In looking over the minutes of the commissioners and county courts one finds numerous orders issued for the pay of these caretakers. The system was long endured, although it was cumbersome and unsatisfactory. At last, on October 11, 1859, the proposition of buying a "poor farm" was submitted
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HISTORY OF WAPELLO COUNTY
to the electorate of the county, which was carried by a substantial majority. The county judge was thereupon authorized to purchase land, make all necessary contracts for buildings and other improvements, and in the aggre- gate of the outlay not to exceed the expenditure of $6,000.
By the summer of 1860 a farm was purchased of Quincy A. Wood, consisting of 140 acres and situate in section 33, Center Township, for which was paid a little over $35 an acre. On this farm a house was built, 26x28 feet, one and one-half stories, with a stone basement, containing eighteen rooms; also a stable 20x28 feet. The house cost $1,207, and was occupied in the summer of 1860 by eighteen unfortunates, under the stewardship of George W. Monk, and directorship of Richard. Fisher. At the time candles were in vogue in this institution and also in the courthouse, as shown by the records of the County Court, especially in this item : "Paid William D. Baker $2.60 for candles and broom for courthouse."
The old farm was utilized for its original purpose until 1881, when it was sold and a farm was then bought by the county of Benjamin Randel, consisting of about two hundred and thirty acres, lying in section 32, High- land Township, and section 5, in Dahlonega Township, costing $9,600.
On this place a large brick building for the inmates and superintendent was erected and occupied. To this, about the year 1899, a large addition was constructed. In 1913 a tract of land of ninety-seven acres adjoining the farm was bought from F. A. Tisdale, for which was paid the sum of $10,925, and now the county farm consists of about three hundred and twenty-eight acres, all in one body. The institution, which is all under one roof, is a substantial brick structure, standing in the center of a beautiful lawn. It now houses about ninety inmates, the males predominating in number. The present incumbent, E. S. Lowenberg, has been steward of the home the past several years; his wife, a woman of kindly instincts and managerial abilities, is the matron, who keeps the wards in "apple pie" order.
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WAPELLO COUNTY INFIRMARY ON COUNTY FARM
CHAPTER IX
GOVERNMENTAL
The business affairs of the county were first intrusted to the hands of an official body designated as the Board of County Commissioners, and this system obtained until 1851, when it was abandoned for that of the office of county judge.
The members of the Commissioners' Court, or Board of County Com- missioners, first elected in Wapello County, April 1, 1844, were Lewis F. Temple, James Montgomery and Charles Harrow ; Charles Overman, clerk. In the following August John C. Evans, John B. Gray and James B. Wright were elected. For the years 1845-46 the board was made up of John C. Evans, James B. Wright and Henry Smith; in the latter year James C. Tolman, clerk. The members of the board for 1847 were Henry Smith, Charles Dudley and James B. Wright ; A. J. Redenbaugh, clerk. In 1848, James B. Wright, Charles Dudley and Nathaniel Bell; 1850, Charles Dudley, Nathaniel Bell and Samuel Gilliland; 1851, Nathaniel Bell, Samuel Gilliland and Gideon Meyers. The last meeting of the Commissioners' Court was held July 29, 1851, and up to that time A. J. Redenbaugh had been clerk since his first election.
THE COUNTY JUDGE SYSTEM
Of the numerous and varied experiments in local government in the United States during the nineteenth century many are vastly more important but few are more unusual from the standpoint of republican institutions than the "county judge system" which existed in the state of Iowa from August, 1851, to January, 1861. Disregarding the threefold division of governmental functions, the county judge system of Iowa placed in the hands of one man, virtually as autocrat, large administrative and judicial powers, and to some extent legislative prerogatives as well.
The authority of the county judge was summed up in the statement. contained in the Code of 1851, that he should have the "usual powers and jurisdictions of county commissioners and of a judge of probate," and that he was to be also the "accounting officer and general agent of the county." He was directed to manage all county business, to have the custody of all county property-except such as was by law placed in the custody of
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another officer-and to "superintend the fiscal concerns of the county and secure their management in the best manner."
The most important specific administrative duties laid by statute upon the county judge were to audit all claims against the county and to draw all warrants; to audit and settle the accounts of the treasurer and any other persons intrusted with public money ; to execute deeds and other contracts made by the county ; to supervise the highways of the county, with power to establish or change them ; to provide for the erection and repair of court- houses, jails and other county buildings; to give certificates of election of county officers ; to grant toll-bridge and ferry licenses, in the latter case with the power to make the privilege exclusive for a mile in either direction (subject, however, to appeal to popular vote) ; to issue marriage licenses, with the further authority to perform marriage ceremonies; to institute and prosecute civil actions brought for the benefit of the county; to fill vacancies in county offices ; to determine the amount of tax to be levied for county purposes, subject to the statutes of the state, and to cause the tax to be collected.
The judicial powers of the county judge-or County Court, as the position was called whether the incumbent was levying taxes or hearing a habeas corpus proceeding-were largely those of a judge of probate. He was authorized to hear cases and to determine the responsibility for the support of paupers, and was given jurisdiction over insane persons. A jury might be demanded, however, in proceedings with reference to the support of a poor person or in a case to determine whether or not an individual was insane. Once the party was declared insane, the County Court had wide powers. The judge might appoint a guardian, whose com- pensation should be "in the discretion of the court," but subject to appeal. The court determined the time and terms of sales, mortgages and leases of property belonging to insane persons. The appointment of guardians for minors and the hearing of cases of master and apprentice and of proceedings in bastardy were further duties of the court. It might hear habeas corpus proceedings, except where the commitment was made by the Supreme or the District Court, and might issue injunctions when the District Court was not in session in the county. It could issue executions against personal property ; and, by transcript to the District Court, its judgments became as those of the higher court. Preliminary hearings in criminal cases, too, might be held before the county judge. Regular sessions of the court were held monthly.
As Harold Martin Bowman remarks in his monograph on The Adminis- tration of Iowa, the legislative powers of the county judge were almost exclusively initiatory in character. He could submit at a regular or special election questions whether money might be borrowed to aid in the erection of public buildings; whether the county would construct or aid in the construction of any road or bridge which might call for an extraordinary
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expenditure ; whether stock should be permitted to run at large or at what time it should be prohibited ; and the question of "any other local or police regulation not inconsistent with the laws of the state." When the warrants of a county were at a depreciated value, the judge might submit the question whether a tax of a higher rate than that provided by law should be levied. The judge was required to submit the adoption or rescission of such a measure upon petition of one-fourth of the voters of the county.
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