USA > Iowa > Calhoun County > Past and present of Calhoun County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress, and achievement, Volume I > Part 14
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Both these ordinances were repealed by the city council on July 5, 1893, when the question of issuing waterworks bonds to the amount of $8.000 was ordered to be submitted to the people at a special election. A majority of the voters favored the bond issue, which was afterward increased to $11,500 by the ordinance of November 13, 1893.
Wells of sufficient capacity to afford a supply of water were drilled to a depth of over 200 feet, a standpipe was erected in the northwestern part of the town with pressure enough to force the water to the top of the tallest buildings, mains were laid upon all the principal streets and problem of furnishing water to the citizens of the town was satisfactorily solved.
PUBLIC LIGIITING
On September 12, 1894, the city council passed an ordinance granting a franchise to establish an electric light plant in Lake City to E. B. Hillman & Company, of Peoria, Ill. This ordinance was subsequently repealed and on February 3, 1898, an ordinance was passed authorizing a special election, at which the citizens should vote upon the question of granting a franchise to George G. Fisher and his associates. The proposition to grant the franchise was carried by a
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substantial majority and the Fisher Company was also given a con- tract for pumping water for the purpose of keeping the standpipe filled.
On March 1, 1900, Fisher and his associates sold out to a company of local capitalists, composed of E. W. Townsend, J. J. Coady, Alva Carskaddon, J. B. Smith, M. E. Hutchison and one or two others. This company filed articles of incorporation with the county recorder on September 20, 1900, under the name of the Lake City Electric Company. J. J. Coady, J. B. Smith, Ira R. Arney, Alva Carskad- don and M. E. Hutchison constituted the first board of directors. The capital stock of the company was fixed at $20,000, with the pro- vision that at no time should the indebtedness exceed two-thirds of the capital stock. According to the articles of association, the object of the company was to "own and operate an electric light and power plant and heating plant in Lake City, Ia., with all real estate and personal property necessary for pumping water for the city water- works. and for furnishing lights, power and heat for the City of Lake City and the citizens thereof."
The new company improved the plant and operated it for some time, when it was sold to Otto E. Brownell, and in August, 1914, it was turned over to the Central Iowa Electric Company, whose plant is at Fraser. At a meeting of the city council on March 23, 1915, a special election was ordered for Monday, April 26, 1915, at which the citizens should vote on the question of granting a new franchise to the Central Iowa Electric Company. The proposition to grant a new franchise was defeated and the company is now operating the plant under the old franchise of the Lake City Electric Company.
PUBLIC PARK
After the removal of the county seat to Rockwell City the court- house at Lake City was removed from the public square, which was then converted into a public park. Shade trees were planted, a band- stand erected for public concerts, and in the center of the park a drinking fountain was erected in the spring of 1915 by Mrs. P. M. Stewart as a memorial to her daughter, Leona Stewart-Odell. This fountain was formally presented to the city on June 14. 1915, "Flag Day," by Hon. John W. Jacobs in behalf of Mrs. Stewart, and it was accepted by Mayor Lundberg for the city. Hon. George Cosson delivered an address. Two thousand people witnessed the ceremony. From the fountain in the center broad cement walks lead to the four
CARNEGIE LIBRARY, LAKE CITY
A VIEW OF LAKE CREEK, LAKE TOWNSHIP
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corners of the park, giving Lake City a square that is an adornment to the eity and a resting place for her people.
GENERAL CONDITIONS
Lake City is located in the southwestern part of the county, on the line between Calhoun and Jackson townships and on the Jewell & Sioux City Division of the Chieago & Northwestern Railway Sys- tem. It has two banks, with deposits of nearly one million dollars; two weekly newspapers, the Graphie and the News; ehurehes of sev- eral of the leading religious denominations, all of which have com- fortable houses of worship: three publie sehool buildings, in which nineteen teachers are employed and over five hundred pupils enrolled; broad, well shaded streets; a number of mereantile establishments, which handle all lines of goods; lodges of various seeret and fraternal soeieties, some of which own their own halls: a publie library, the gift of Andrew Carnegie; and a large number of handsome residences.
About the time the waterworks were established a fire company was organized and apparatus for extinguishing fires was purchased. In 1915 this company consisted of Earl Howe, chief: J. J. Foley, assistant chief: Charles Dunn, secretary; W. C. Guenther, treasurer; Charles Rice, foreman, and the following members: Charles Bau- man. Charles Bawden, W. S. Chambers, G. H. Coady, Don Her- riek, C. H. Miller, C. C. Myler, C. H. Newell, Samuel Redenius, E. E. Sebwartz, A. J. Ulvestad, L. O. Wright and C. H. Zybell.
The Lake City Commercial Club was organized some years ago and has been influential in advertising the merits and advantages of the town. and of establishing a more fraternal feeling among the business men. George E. Pearen was president of the elub at the beginning of the year 1915; John W. Jacobs, vice president; G. G. Hutchison, seeretary; L. E. Nokes, treasurer. The board of diree- tors was constituted of the above named offieers and the following: E. W. Townsend, C. S. Hopkins, J. L. Hibbs, Dr. F. E. Kauffman, Edward O'Connell, Dr. G. L. Pray, W. H. T. Shade and F. O. Cottong.
The following dispatch from Lake City to the Des Moines Regis- ter and Leader is taken from the issue of that paper for June 16, 1915: "The city council at its meeting Monday night entered into a wholesale condemnation of the brick sidewalks of Lake City by con- demning almost a mile of walks and ordering in new eement walks in lien thereof. This is said to be only a beginning and the predie-
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tion is made that before the summer is over more than five miles of new cement sidewalks will be laid in Lake City.
"The ordinances now provide that cement only shall be used in the construction of walks. The local school board will put in three blocks of new walk of its own volition during the summer vacation. Most of this walk will be six feet wide."
This dispatch shows the general public spirit of the people of Lake City, which is not only the oldest, but is also the largest incor- porated town in Calhoun County. In 1910 the population, according to the United States census, was 2,043.
ROCKWELL CITY
Rockwell City, the present county seat of Calhoun County, is situated near the exact geographical center of the county. Part of the city is located in the southeast corner of Twin Lakes Township and part of it in the southwest corner of Center Township. The town owes its origin and existence to a movement of the citizens to establish the county seat somewhere near the center of the county. On June 17, 1876, the site was selected by a committee appointed for the purpose and which met at the sod house of Calvin A. Childs- at that time the only house in the vicinity of where the town now stands. The selection was approved by a majority of the voters at the general election in November, 1876, the town was soon afterward laid off by Elliott Colburn for John M. Rockwell and his wife, Char- lotte M. Rockwell, and the plat was filed in the county recorder's office on December 28, 1876.
Upon the original plat the streets running north and south are shown as First, Second, Third, Fourth and Custer, and the cast and west streets as North, Lake, Main, Court and Richmond. Custer Street was afterward changed to Fifth and in the additions west of that street the numbers are continued consecutively. The principal additions that have been made to the town are as follows: J. M. Rockwell's, sixty lots, March 9, 1882; Smith's, forty-four lots, De- cember 7, 1882; Lewis & Smith's, thirty-seven small and five large lots, May 9, 1883: Lewis & Smith's second, fifteen lots of four acres each, May 1. 1885; Baker's, thirty lots. July 7, 1891: Burkhalter's. seven lots, September 22, 1891; Mary E. Childs', twelve lots, April 13. 1892: Childs' second, twelve lots, April 7, 1894: C. M. Rockwell's. sixty-two lots, June 7, 1894; J. M. Rockwell's second, six small and
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three large outlots. December 31. 1894: Rockwell & Hubbell's, July 23. 1896: Hunter's, January 8, 1901.
When the town was first platted the country around it was one vast prairie covered with a dense growth of slough grass, in some places as tall as a man. On the higher places was a luxuriant growth of wild flowers. especially the lady slipper, the prairie lily and the wild pink. or sweet william. The children of the first families that settled in the new county seat used to gather wild strawberries on the little elevation called Gopher Knoll, and where the fair grounds are now located was a large pond. about which the boys trapped musk- rats and sold the pelts to get their spending money. Even the men were not averse to trapping muskrats in the sloughs about the town and many of the household necessities in early days were purchased with money received from the sale of the skins of these little rodents. Sometimes a lone wolf could be seen standing upon some rise in the prairie, watching the building of the new town, as though wondering what it was all about, and at night the dismal howls of these animals would be borne on the breeze to the ears of the citizens.
The first building material ever brought to Rockwell City con- sisted of two wagon-loads of brick, which were hauled from Grant City, Sae County, by T. B. Hotchkiss, to be used in the erection of a building for a newspaper office. The lumber for this building came from Glidden and in August, 1877. Mr. Hotehkiss began the pub- lieation of the Calhoun County Journal. The office stood upon the lot at the northeast corner of Fourth and Main streets, facing the public square. After the Journal was removed from Rockwell City, the building was occupied by Smith & Jack as a hardware store. Some years later it was moved to the rear end of the lot, facing Fourth Street, to make room for the brick building that now stands on the corner, and in 1915 the old Journal office was used as a bakery.
John M. Rockwell, the founder of the town, was a resident of Erie, N. Y. Shortly after the plat was filed in the recorder's office he came to Rockwell City and took an active interest in building up the town. He built the Rockwell House, the first hotel in the town, and conducted it until 1882. This hotel, two stories high, with a mansard roof, could be seen for miles over the open prairie and was considered one of the finest houses of entertainment in Northwestern Iowa in its early days. When the Savings Bank Building was ereeted in 1904 the hotel was removed to the next lot east on Court Street. where it is still standing.
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W. T. Smith, who was elected county recorder in 1876, claims the distinction of having erected the first residence in the new county seat. James Owens was the first merchant. Soon after he estab- . lished himself in business a daughter was born to him and his wife. She was named Alpha, the first letter of the Greek alphabet, because she was the first child born in Rockwell City. In 1877 a postoffice was established and a commission issued to Mrs. Owens as postmis- tress, but she declined the honor and John M. Rockwell was ap- pointed. He kept the office in his hotel.
For a number of years the town was called "Rockwell" and fre- quent mistakes occurred in the mails, letters intended for some of the citizens being sent to Rockwell, in Cerro Gordo County. An edi- torial in the Rockwell City Advocate of December 15, 1898, urged the people of the town always to refer to it as "Rockwell City," and to instruct their correspondents to address letters in that manner. On March 3, 1902, the city council passed a resolution declaring "Rock- v well City" to be the official name, and at the municipal election on the 30th of the same month the action of the council was sustained by a vote of 192 to 23. Since then the mistakes in the delivery of mail have been less frequent, though they still occur occasionally. On July 1, 1902, six rural mail routes-the first in Calhoun County- began operations from the postoffice at Rockwell City. During the fiscal year ending on June 30, 1914, the receipts of the office amounted to about ten thousand dollars. This was enough to justify free mail delivery to the residents of the town and that system was inaugurated on April 1, 1915.
Another man who played a conspicuous part in building up Rock- well City and its business interests was Washington Lewis, commonly called "Wash," who came from Lake City, built a store and dwell- ing, and entered into practically every movement calculated to ad- vance the welfare of the new town. Later J. HI. Gregg and H. H. Hutchinson became associated with Mr. Lewis in the store. In 1884 Mr. Lewis sold out his interest to his partners and joined with W. T. Smith and J. C. R. Layton in the organization of the Farmers Bank. He continued active in business for a number of years. His death occurred on June 5, 1900.
The first courthouse at Rockwell City was completed carly in September, 1877, and the first school was taught in one of its rooms in the fall of 1878. A schoolhouse was soon afterward erected, in which the first teacher was Miss Anna Callaghan. That old school- house was used for various purposes and was removed two or three
ยท
513
G. W. FITCH
The oldest citizen of Rockwell City receiving his first letter by free delivery, April 1. 1915
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times before it was taken to the east side of Fifth Street, between Main and Court. After a better schoolhouse was built the old one was sold to Joseph G. Palmer, who used it for an opera house. It was then sold to the Baptist Church and in 1915 it was still used by that congregation as a house of worship. The city now has two school buildings and employs nineteen teachers in the public schools.
INCORPORATION
Early in the '80s Mr. Rockwell gave F. M. Hubbell a half inter- est in the town site at Rockwell City in consideration of the extension of the Des Moines & Northwestern Railroad, the "narrow gauge," as it was commonly ealled, from Adel to Roekwell City. When it was learned that the railroad was certain to be built, the town entered upon an era of prosperity, new buildings were ereeted and it was not long until some of the citizens became interested in the subject of incorporation. Consequently, at the April term of the Circuit Court in 1882, a petition was presented to Judge John N. Weaver asking for the incorporation of Roekwell City. The petition was signed by thirty-four residents and recommended C. G. Walker, J. F. Sea- right, J. H. Bradt, A. N. Jack and J. F. Lavender as suitable per- sons to conduct an election for the submission of the question to the people. The petition was granted by the court, the above named eiti- zens were appointed commissioners, and at the election, which was held on May 2, 1882, the proposition to incorporate was carried by a decisive majority. Judge Weaver then deelared Roekwell City to be an incorporated town, under the laws of Iowa, and ordered an election for nmieipal officials to be held on May 16, 1882. At that election Thomas Tennant was chosen mayor; A. G. Hull, recorder: C. G. Walker, J. F. Searight, H. W. Dudley, R. C. Patterson, J. C. Toliver and W. H. Harlan, trustees.
From the incorporation of the town in 1882 to 1915 the mayors of Roekwell City, with the year in which each was elected, were as follows: Thomas Tennant, 1882: Joseph G. Palmer, 1883; A. F. Stonebraker, 1884; R. C. Patterson, 1886 (Mayor Patterson left the city soon after the beginning of his term and a special eleetion was ordered for October 4, 1886. when E. C. Stevenson was chosen to fill out the unexpired term) : E. C. Stevenson, 1887 (Mr. Steven- son was re-elected in 1888. but resigned and J. H. Bradt was elected to the vacancy at a special election on December 7, 1888) ; J. H. Bradt, 1889; D. W. Noel, 1891; J. H. Bradt, 1893; T. C. Gregg,
.
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1894; Charles D. Case, 1897: F. F. Hunter, 1898; L. Hayden Fouts, 1902: J. T. McComb, 1904: V. N. Noel, 1906; Louis E. Eslick, 1910; E. C. Stevenson, 1914.
WATERWORKS
For about ten years after the town was incorporated no attention was given to the water question, most of the families having indi- vidual wells sufficient to provide for their needs. On the night of January 30, 1893, the ereamery of Lewis & Riseley, situated only a short distance north of the publie square, was completely destroyed by fire. It was generally conceded that the building could have been saved had there been an adequate supply of water at hand. The Advocate of February 2, 1893, the first issue after the fire, made a strong plea for the establishment of waterworks.
"Rockwell City," says the editorial, "is absolutely without any protection from fire, excepting the slight benefit from common wells and water pails. A live, growing town of nearly one thousand in- habitants, with a property valuation of hundreds of thousands of dollars, we are completely at the mercy of a chance spark from a defective chinmey, or the cunning deviltry of an incendiary. Most of our business buildings are of wood and a conflagration once started could not be stopped by any efforts we might make. These are facts! Rockwell City must have some system of waterworks."
This started some of the more progressive element to thinking. The council appointed a committee to visit Lake City and inspeet the waterworks recently established there. On March 5, 1894, the ques- tion of issuing bonds for the construction of a waterworks was sub- mitted to the voters and was defeated by a vote of 86 to 50. But, like Banquo's ghost. the question of adequate fire protection would not down and the advocates of waterworks prevailed on the eouneil to call a special election for August 27, 1894, at which the question was again submitted. With the call for the special eleetion the coun- eil presented a general plan of a steel tower, to support a tank with a capacity of 100,000 gallons. Again the proposition was defeated, but this time by only one vote.
Encouraged by the result, the friends of the waterworks proposi- tion went to work with renewed vigor. A petition, signed by about one hundred citizens, was presented to the council the following spring asking that the question be once more submitted to the people.
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A special election was therefore ordered for May 27, 1895, when the vote stood 87 to 55 in favor of waterworks.
Couneilmen Bradt. Owens and McAllister visited towns having waterworks and reported in favor of a standpipe system, bonds to the amount of $7,000 were issued and sold, and a contraet was made with Fremont Turner, of Des Moines, for nearly two miles of mains and the erection of a steel standpipe 100 feet high and twelve feet in diameter. A Buena Vista firm was awarded a contract to drill a 5-inch well, but the flow of water obtained was not up to the speci- fications and the drillers gave up the undertaking. George Jewell was then awarded a contraet for a large reservoir well, twelve feet in diameter. At a depth of forty-seven feet a strong vein of water was struek and the flow eame with such foree that the workmen were hastily driven from the well. The standpipe and mains were com- pleted on January 15, 1896, the well was walled with briek and early in the spring the water was turned on for the first time.
On August 15, 1901, a contraet was entered into between the eity and M. E. Layne, of Rock Rapids, by which the latter was to sink a deep well, capable of supplying 100,000 gallons daily, for which he was to receive $3,500 and a quantity of iron pipe purchased by the couneil the year before. With the completion of the new well some additional mains were laid. Subsequently a well 1,479 feet deep was sunk, giving Roekwell City a system of water supply and distribu- tion as good as is usually found in towns of its elass.
ELECTRIC LIGHT
On December 6, 1895, a meeting was held in Mayor Gregg's offiec to consider the organization of a citizens' stoek company to put in an electric light plant. Washington Lewis, E. C. Stevenson and Charles D. Case were appointed a committee to solicit stock subseriptions. A franchise was obtained and on January 10, 1896, the Rockwell City Electric Light and Power Company was incorporated with a eapital stock of $10,000 and the following offieers: E. C. Stevenson, presi- dent ; George B. Brown, secretary; Charles D. Case, treasurer. The first board of directors was composed of the above named offieers, H. W. Dyer, Washington Lewis, J. H. Bradt and A. L. Dean.
An ordinance passed by the eouneil on February 18, 1896, grant- ing the franchise, also made provisions for the new company to fur- nish power for operating the pumps at the waterworks. Work was commenced on the plant in May, the Fort Wayne Electric Company
F
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having been awarded the contract for its construction for $8,500. Buildings of all kinds were wired for lights while the plant was under construction and on the evening of Monday, August 3, 1896, Roek- well City was for the first time illuminated by electricity. After the Fort Dodge, Des Moines & Southern Railroad was converted into an electrie line, the railroad company acquired the franchise, dismantled the plant at Rockwell City, and current is now supplied from the great power plant at Fraser.
FIRE COMPANY
On June 29, 1896, a few months after the waterworks were eom- pleted, a fire company was organized with P. C. Holdoegel as chief; Z. Woodward, first assistant; C. O. Dixon, second assistant; B. E. Stonebraker, seeretary; F. P. Huff, treasurer, and about twenty members in addition to these officers. Constitution and by-laws were adopted and a hook and ladder truek and hose eart previously pur- ehased by the town were placed under the control of the company. Frequent drills were held for a time, but, fortunately for the prop- erty holders, the boys had little opportunity to display their skill as real fire fighters. Mr. Holdoegel resigned in April, 1898, to take charge of the Manson publie sehools, and C. O. Dixon sueceeded him as chief. In the meantime Mr. Woodward had gone to the gold fields of the Klondike, C. M. Randall was eleeted first assistant and O. R. Danielson second.
During the next few years some of the members of the company moved away and the others lost interest, being seldom ealled upon to extinguish a fire. In time the company went down, but in January, 1913, it was reorganized and the city eouneil soon afterward pur- ehased a chemieal engine. The officers of the company at the begin- ning of the year 1915 were as follows: S. E. Stanfield, president ; J. E. Torrence, viee president : Floyd Beckwith, secretary; Earl Beer- man, treasurer; A. L. Johnson, chief.
SEWERS
At a meeting of the eity eouneil on April 2, 1901, the mayor was authorized to appoint a special committee to investigate the matter of securing a good outlet for a sewer large enough to drain the town, and the council decided to visit the Town of Clarion, Ia., to inspeet the sewer system. The Roekwell City Advocate of May 23, 1901,
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contained a somewhat detailed description of the receiving tank sys- tem in use at the lowa Agricultural College at Ames and advocated the construction of a similar system for the town.
A drainage petition was filed in February, 1902, contemplating a tile drainage distriet to include the Town of Rockwell City, with an outlet into Lake Creek, after the sewage had passed through a septic tank and filter. The petition was granted and work on the sewer system was commenced in July, 1902, by King & Lambert, of Des Moines, contractors. A filter 30 by 50 feet was built just north of Rose Hill Cemetery and the city drains all lead to this filter, which is capable of purifying 300,000 gallons of sewage every twenty-four hours. Later another drainage district included the remainder of the town and the sewer system was extended.
MISCELLANEOUS
The Rockwell City Business Men's Association had its beginning in a meeting held at the courthouse on January 21, 1899, D. W. Noel presiding. A committee, consisting of E. E. Johnston, J. F. Laven- der, A. F. Dean, Ira Baker and J. H. Bradt, was appointed to form- ulate a plan of organization. A week later the committee reported, a code of by-laws was adopted and it was deeided to canvass for meni- bers until the first of March, when a permanent organization would be effected. On that date D. W. Noel was elected president; E. C. Stevenson, vice president; Byron Mattison, secretary; Charles D. Case, treasurer. These officers, with J. C. Kerr, C. G. Walker, George L. Brower and E. E. Johnston, constituted the first board of directors. The association has been on the alert for the interests of Rockwell City. Through its influence the roller mill, the canning fac- tory, the briek and tile works and some other concerns were induced to locate here and the organization has always stood for municipal improvement. In 1915 W. E. Gray was president and B. E. Stone- braker, secretary.
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