USA > Iowa > Warren County > The history of Warren County, Iowa, from its Earliest Settlementto 1908 > Part 17
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In the early days. people were so anxious to secure railroads that the town- ships frequently voted taxes to aid in building them. Many of the schemes failed. and the taxes were never paid. Union township voted a five per cent tax at one time, but the road was never built, and the tax never paid. In 1870. Washington township voted a tax of twenty mills, and again in 1872 voted a tax of thirty mills. The following resolution was adopted by the Board of Super- visors at the September meeting. 1878 :
"Resolved, that a tax of four per cent be and the same is hereby levied upon the assessed valne of the taxable property of Washington township, to aid in the construction of the Chariton, Des Moines & Southern Railroad, in ac- cordance with the vote of said township. at a special election on the 5th day of September, 1878.
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The one-half of said tax shall become due and collectable and shall be paid to the Chariton, Des Moines & Southern Railroad Company, so soon as said company shall have built and completed the main trunk line of its said railroad from the city of Chariton, Lucas county, Iowa, to the city of Indianola, Warren county, Iowa, by the way of, or within one half mile of the town of Ackworth, in said Warren county, and shall have built and completed a permanent depot thereon at Indianola, and also shall have built and completed a permanent depot thereon within one half mile of said town of Ackworth, and the other, or remaining one-half of said tax, shall be paid to said railroad company at the expiration of one year from the time it shall have completed its said road from Chariton to Indianola, and also have built and completed depots thereon at Ackworth and Indianola as above stated.
Provided, that no part of said fax shall be collected or paid to said railroad company unless said road is completed from Chariton to a point on the south line of said Warren county, against the 1st day of January, 1879, and from Chariton to Indianola, against the 1st day of July, 1879."
In 1882, Virginia township voted railroad tax of two and one-half per cent. A remarkable railroad eareer: C. B. MeLaughin was born in the state of New York, has been seventy-two years in Iowa, has been in the employ of the C. R. I. & P. Company for fifty-six years, and thirty-two years agent at Indianola, and is still actively engaged in the duties of his office.
Of late many railroad men have become alarmed in regard to the fnel supply. It is now estimated by those who are in a position to know. that nearly or quite one-third of the coal mined is used in railroading, and that not more than five per cent of the actual power in the coal is used by the engine in pulling trains. The world is waiting for some great inventive genius to appear and remedy this great waste of fuel.
With the two cent fare law in operation for the greater part of the period, the eight representative railroads of Iowa, show a net gain of $383,057 in pas- senger earnings for the year ending January 1, 1908. Notwithstanding a decrease of $386.000 in the gross earnings for the same period, the conclusion is drawn that the reduction in the price of mileage has benefited the railroads as well as the people.
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Warren is emphatically an agricultural county. Coal has been mined in several of the townships, and considerable quantities taken out, but at this time only a few mines are being operated, and those in a small way. Much of the coal is of an excellent quality. The probabilities are that there are immense quantities that have never been touched. There are no extensive manufactories in the county, so that the people are wholly dependent upon agriculture. The farming class, in point of intelligence, education and culture, stand at the head of the laboring people. There is something in the cultivation of the soil that stimulates thought and widens one's vision, and prepares him for contemplating the highest and best interests of humanity. Many of the most distinguished men
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of the nation were born and brought up on farms. Statesmen, scholars. orators and inventors have come from the farms. There never was before such an effort to develop scientific farming as there is today. The Agricultural College at Ames, is annually adding vast sms to the proceeds of farm products, by indneing the farmers to adopt better methods of cultivating the soil. and better methods of stock raising and fruit growing. Nothing so stinmilates improvement in the methods of farming as for the farmers to come together, exchange opinions, discuss theories, and compare results. Perhaps no institution has done so much for the farmers in Towa as the County Agricultural Societies. Farmers' Institutes and other organizations for mutual benefit, have been of great ad- vantage. It was enstomary in the early history of the state for the Agricultural Society to procure a speaker, who would deliver an address in the interest of farming at the annual meeting. The late Senator G. G. Wright was a noted speaker in this line. and awakened in many places increased interest in better methods of farming. This custom is now obsolete. but might be renewed with advantage to all concerned. No county can afford to let its Agricultural So- ciety die. By means of these annual gatherings. all kinds of domestic animals. including poultry. have been greatly improved. and better varieties of grains have been introduced, and the farmers have been stimulated to greater effort in getting the largest possible returns from the field and pasture, garden and orchard.
In some counties, the Agricultural Society has fallen into disrepute by the directors permitting gambling stands to be erected on the grounds during the annual fair. This became so general that the legislature took it in hand. and passed a law forbidding everything of the kind. on penalty of the associaton not receiving state aid if the law was violated. Early in the history of Warren county, people began to talk about organizing an Agricultural Society. In 1855. Warren County Agricultural Society was organized by Samnel Haworth, George E. Griffith. John Bramhall and P. P. Henderson. The following officers were elected : President. H. Fisk ; secretary. P. P. Henderson : treasurer. Samuel Haworth ; directors, H. Hastie. Dr. W. G. Ball. J. T. Moorman. A. Gruder. J. Bramhall. The first fair was held October 1 and 2. 1855. in the grove located in the southeast part of Indianola, and now known as Yoder's grove. The receipts on menrbership. $204.00; from the state. $200.00; amount donated. $22.00: making a total of $426.00, which was all paid out on premiums. This was in the seventh year of the county's history as an organization. These wise and far- seeing farmers in this new country were taking steps to make farming a success. In 1856. the organization purchased twenty acres of ground. one-half mile west of Indianola, for which was paid $320.00. This is a part of the present fair ground. On the 2nd and 3rd of October was held on this ground a very in- teresting fair at which there was received for membership. $240.00: amount donated for grounds. $320.00; and amount donated on premiums, $281.00; making a total of $841.00. This year there was paid on premiums. $385.00; paid on grounds. $320.00; which left a balance in the treasurer's hand for improving the grounds of $146.00. It seems that the society did not draw the $200 from the state, but expected to do so at some future time. The old records
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of the secretary have been lost, but it seems probable that a fair has been held every year since the organization in 1855, except in 1858. many of which have been successes, and some of which have been failures. The failures are always attributable to the weather. With good weather, the people of Warren county will make the fair a success. The property of the association has changed hands a number of times, and new associations have been formed. In some instances the property has passed into the hands of private parties, but was subsequently redeemed by the association. In 1886, the property was sold by sheriff for taxes, but in 1887. Warren County Park and Fair Ground Association purchased it. On the 12th of March. 1904, the present association obtained possession of the property, and have held fairs up to the present time, and have paid all premiums in full each year. The cash receipts of the fair have averaged for the last four years. $4,750, and the expenditures have been more than that amount each year, except the year 1907. The present association is composed of twelve men : President, Lee Talbott ; vice-president, Robert Pilmer ; secretary, Joe McCoy; treasurer, William Buxton, Jr .; directors, L. E. Hiatt, C. C. Reynolds, J. E. Houghtaling, F. C. Sigler, E. B. Dowell, R. B. Wadsworth, D. W. Husted, Harry E. Hopper. On March 31, 1908, the association contracted the grounds to Mr. Harry E. Hopper, and agreed to give possession March 1, 1912. In the contract Mr. Hopper has agreed to put np a fine speed barn and good show barn, and to fence the ground with a good woven wire fence. The present association will run the fair for the next four years just as they have done in the past, and at the end of the four years, the grounds will pass into the hands of Harry E. Hopper for $9.000. unless other arrangements are made. No doubt, the fairs will be continued because Warren county cannot afford to give up her Agricultural Association. The county has donated the taxes on the grounds for several years past, and the state of Iowa has appropriated $200 each year, on condition that the authorities shall not allow any space on the grounds for gambling in any manner whatever. It is the policy of the directors to meet these conditions in the future as they have done in the past. Another require- ment the state makes is, that the association shall pay all premiums awarded in full, and this has been done, and no doubt will be in the future.
COUNTY COURT HOUSE.
The elderly people of Indianola look back with much interest to the old courthouse, it being the first public building erected in Warren county. It was begun in 1850. In regard to the contract, the first records are silent. In the records of the January session of 1851, of the commissioners, is the fol- lowing :
"The board makes the following alteration in the plan of building the courthouse, which is not named in the bond between the board and the under- takers; the undertakers are to put a plain cornice on the front and sides of the building; the said undertakers will furnish the same to correspond with build- ing, which the board will allow a reasonable compensation. And the stairs to run up on the inside instead of out at the northeast corner of the building,
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with a good panel door for to lead from the outside of the building to go np the stairs, and the rooms to be altered some, the stairway to be ceiled and separate from the courtroom, and the board allow a reasonable compensation for the difference in the work. The doors in the front of the building to be panel doors. Only the front window to have Venetian blinds, the others to be batten."
The building was completed some time during the summer of 1851, for there is a record showing that Levi Chandler was employed by the commissioners at the July meeting of that year. "to furnish Imber and materials, make and set np in good order, benches, tables and stand for the courtrooms, which the said Chandler shall receive just compensation for said work, to be left to a board of mechanies if they cannot otherwise agree."
It stood on the southeast corner of the square where the opera house now stands. The early settlers look back to it with great interest, not because of its dimensions, beauty or cost, but because of its varied uses. It was courtroom, the home of the county officers, a church for all denominations, a lecture hall, and all other public assemblies were free to convene within its walls. It continued to be used for church purposes by all denominations until the M. E. church was dedicated on the 6th of January, 1856; and after that it was still used by all other denominations for several years. The time came when it was too small to meet the demands of a county courthouse. The county officers had to find homes in such buildings as they were able to rent. At the time this building was erected, the northern tier of townships were still attached to Polk county, and when they were set off by legislative authority to Warren county. the voters of the "strip" were not inclined to vote a tax for the erection of another conrt- house. but the pressing need of a more commodious building became so apparent that in 1864, the question of a new courthonse was submitted to the people. The vote "for a courthouse" was five hundred and twenty-six: "against a court- honse" was one thousand and seventy. At the same time a proposition to levy a tax was submitted to the voters; "for a tax to build a conrthouse." there were three hundred and ninety-fonr votes, and against the proposition one thousand. one hundred and one votes. But the need became more and more apparent, so that at the October election the question was again submitted, and "for a court- house." one thonsand, three hundred and fifty-three votes were cast, and "against a courthonse," four hundred and twenty-four; "for an ammal tax to build a courthonse," one thousand, three hundred and ninety-two; "against a tax to build a courthonse." three hundred and ninety-two.
On January 6th, 1866, the Board of Supervisors adopted the following reso- Intion : "Resolved by the Board of Supervisors of Warren county. That the committee on courthouse be, and they are hereby, authorized to enter into and perfect a contract with some suitable contractor for the erection of a court- honse in Indianola, on the plan now adopted by the board, provided they can contract by the issne of bonds not exceeding forty thousand dollars in amount : and be it further provided that in case a contraet cannot be effected on the plan above referred, when the specifications shall be received, then said committee are hereby authorized to contraet on an abridged plan; and said committee are
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hereby authorized to have issued bonds drawing eight per cent interest; to have twenty thousand (dollars) issned within the first year, and twenty thousand (dollars) within the second year. Said bonds shall be issued by the clerk of the board of supervisors by the order of said committee, and bonds to the amount of eleven thousand dollars shall become dne by March, 1867, and seven thousand dollars shall become due by March, 1868, and seven thousand dollars by March, 1869, and eight thousand dollars by March, 1870, and the remainedr shall be- come due in 1871.
The building committee made the following report to the board on the 8th of June, 1866, which was accepted and adopted: "The undersigned com- mittee on public buildings, would respectfully report to the Board of Supervisors of Warren county, Iowa, that on the 6th day of February, 1866, we met at Indianola, and examined the abridged plan for a courthouse in Warren county, submitted by C. A. Dunham, architect, and after due deliberation, ordered the same to be open for sealed proposals until Monday, the 2nd of April, 1866, at which time we met and awarded the contract to Jacob Reichard, of Marion county, Iowa, for the sum of thirty-seven thousand and fifty dollars for the contract, plans and specifications in the clerk's office. The said Jacob Reichard gave bond to the county in the penal sum of twenty thousand dollars for the faithful performance of said contract, with securities which your committee considered amply sufficient, which bond we submit to the board for approval. We also recommend the board to change the rate of interest on the courthouse bonds from eight to ten per cent per annum, believing that it would be a saving of money to the county in the end.
(Signed) JAMES LAVERTY, N. GUTHRIE, Committee."
W. J. COCHRANE,
On the 17th of July, the following record appears: "Resolved, by the Board of Supervisors, That the courthouse committee be required to contract with the courthouse builder, Mr. Reichard, to enlarge the same to original plan shown to the board at the January session, 1866, the same being about 109 feet in length, provided they can contract for the work at the same rate as that already let out."
The building was completed in 1868, and is of sufficient size to comfortably provide for county offices, and court and jury rooms, there being on the first floor six county offices ; on the second floor, the court room and jury rooms; on the third floor, the grand jury room and another jury room. One writer has estimated that the building cost $80,000. About the time it was nearing com- pletion, the honorable A. W. Swalm, who was then editor of the VISITOR, in Indianola, wrote a detailed account of the building in which he estimated the cost at $75,000. Probably $65,000 would be nearer correct. The building has satisfactorily met all demands for forty years, and is now in good repairs, and will doubtless serve the people for another forty years or more.
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JAIL.
In the early days of Warren county there was not much need of a jail, yet crime was not unknown even in those hallowed days. The commissioners at their January meeting, 1851, formulated a plan for a jail, and gave the contract to the lowest bidder, as will appear from the following: "And the board have agreed to let out the building of a jail in the town of Indianola, of the following dimensions : eighteen feet square, two-story high, seven foot stories, to be built of hewn timber. The lower story to be built with two walls of eight inches; the building to be lined with two-inch plank, well spiked with double ten nails, all the floors to be laid with hewn timber ten inches thick. And the rest of the work to correspond with the rest of the building. And will have the same sold to the lowest bidder on the second Monday in March next."
Accordingly at the March meeting, the contract for building the jail was let to William J. Moorman for the sum of $707.56, to be completed within a year. This was the only jail that Warren county had for twenty-nine years. It was a poorly constructed building, and was the butt of many jokes. It was condemned several times by the grand jury. A new building was agitated, and the proposition voted down several times, but in 1880, the proposition was again submitted and carried by a good majority. Also on the same ballot, the propo- sition to levy a tax of two and one-eighth mills for jail purposes, the ballot also contained a guarantee that the entire cost of the building should not exceed ten thousand dollars. No record is made of the bids being opened or of a contract being let to erect this building, but a suitable structure was erected and is now in good repair. The building not only contains prison cells, but is a commodious residence for the sheriff, and ought to be called the sheriff's residence, rather than the jail. The Warren county jail is not thronged with prisoners. Occa- sionally, federal prisoners are lodged therein for safe keeping. Probably not more on an average than eight or ten local prisoners are committed to the Warren county jail per annum, and most of those for petty offenses. Warren is a "dry" county, and in prohibition counties jails are not overrun with prisoners.
TYPEWRITER.
No invention of the last century has so revolutionized the methods of transacting business as the typewriter. It was on exhibition at the Centennial Exposition, and there made a favorable impression, and was soon introduced into all the offices of the land. It has nmultiplied the demand for stenographers a hundred fold. There are many law offices in not only the cities but in smaller towus, that require at least two typewriters. Miss Hattie Spray was the first to own and operate a typewriter in Indianola. About 1880, she purchased a Rem- ington machine and soon became quite an expert in its use. She was then employed in the law office of Henderson & Berry. Today preachers, teachers. lawyers, physicians, publie officers, and many private families use typewriters. The advantages of the typewriter are, first, speed. The typewriter can write two or three times as fast as the penman. Second, typewriting is not the nervous
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strain that penmanship is, and does not subject one to pen paralysis. Third, the mammuseript is so much more easily read. One of the remarkable things about the typewriter is that the price continues high, but little variation has taken place in the price of this machine during its entire history.
AUTOMOBILES.
There is no more enjoyable mode of traveling than the automobile when the roads are good and the weather is pleasant, but much of the time in this country the roads are muddy or snow is on the ground. This makes it quite impossible for automobile locomotion. As a horse frightener, the automobile has no equal between the earth and the stars. More people have been maimed and killed in proportion to numbers by automobiles than by any other mode of travel. One reason is people want to go a little faster, and scorching is seemingly an irresist- ible temptation. £ Chris Schreiber was the first man to open a garage in Indianola. During the summer of 1907, he sold four machines, but the panic came on in October and well nigh abolished the selling of automobiles. One farmer two miles west of Indianola, uses an automobile, and others, perhaps, will follow his example, but there is no danger of the automobile supplanting the horse, yet it is a fixture in our civilization. The Christian Advocate says : "Motor carriages were built and used as early as 1760, but it was not until 1879 that an American invented and operated the first gas engine automobile, which was entirely practical for road travel. The general public was slow to believe that automobiles had come to stay, and they were not altogether popular. Their success, however, is proven by the fact that while ten years ago there were but seventeen automobile makers, today there are one hundred and seventy-five. Ten years ago automobile factories employed about six hundred and thirty- eight people, now they employ sixty thousand people. Where $1,000,000 was spent on such vehicles then, there are today $95,000,000. So that the manufacture of automobiles has now become one of America's great industries.
Today there are in Europe and America thousands and thousands of auto- machines, including taxicabs, trueks, fire-engines, buses, delivery wagons, am- bulanees, buggies, victorias and touring cars. Recently Mrs. Russell Sage presented to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals an automobile for ambulance service.
It is hard to realize that automobiles are "chug-chugging" nearly all over the world; in Australia and Japan and Hawaii, and even on the edge of the jungles of India ! The most recent antarctic expedition has an ice motor car. Its handles are covered with leather, so that the hand of the operator shall not touch the ice-cold metal; the steam from the engine passes under the footboard and acts as a footwarmer, and the front wheels are mounted with flat runners resembling broad snowshoes.
When Mr. Winton traveled from Cleveland to New York in July, 1897, he successfully undertook the first long automobile trip ever made in America, and his is believed to be the first gasoline automobile in New York city. The up-to- date automobile can travel at the rate of a mile a minute, and cars go flying
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across the country at from forty-five to sixty-five miles an hour without undue strain. The latest "100-mile world's record" stands at the average speed of eighty-two and one-half miles an hour."
WARREN COUNTY BAR, COURTS AND JUDGES.
BAR.
W. H. Berry, O. C. Brown, H. F. Burns, H. H. Crow, E. W. Hartman, H. H. Hartman, A. T. Hatfield, J. H. Henderson, F. P. Henderson, J. R. Howard, S. W. Lee, A. A. McGarry, II. McNeil, H. H. McNeil, J. P. Mosher, A. V. Proudfoot, J. L. E. Peck, J. F. Schee, S. H. Tidball, J. O. Watson, W. M. Wilson.
The following are the judges who have presided in the Warren county courts : Wm. MeKay of Des Moines, from 1849 to 1853. C. J. McFarland was elected to succeed Judge MeKay, but the distriet was changed and Warren county was put in the district over which John S. Townsend of Albia, presided as judge from 1853 to 1857. He was succeeded by W. M. Stone, of Knoxville, who pre- sided in the Warren county courts for two years; then J. H. Gray of Des Moines, presided from January 1859, to October, 1865, when Chas. C. Nourse was appointed to fill the vacancy, but only served about one year or less, when H. W. Maxwell, of Indianola, was appointed to fill the vacancy, and was subse -. quently elected and served two full terms, when John Leonard, of Winterset, took the office January 1st, 1875, and served four years. W. II. MeHlenry of Des Moines, served from January, 1879, to January, 1887. The Circuit Court was ereated by the legislature of 1868, and John Mitchell was appointed circuit judge over the district including Warren county, and was subsequently elected and served three full terms from 1869 to 1881, when Josiah Given took the office. An additional circuit judge was created and William Conner was appointed, and thereafter elected. R. N. Baylis took the office June 30, 1885. J. H. Henderson served from December, 1885, for one year. The legislature of 1886 reorganized the judicial system of the state, abolishing circuit courts, and giving to the district court full jurisdiction of all matters. The counties of Adair, Dallas, Guthrie, Madison, Marion and Warren were made to constitute the fifth judicial district. The law provided that the fifth district should have three judges. J. II. Henderson of Indianola, A. W. Wilkinson of Winterset, and O. B. Ayres, were elected. J. H. Applegate succeeded O. B. Ayres. J. A. Story succeeded J. H. Henderson, who resigned. James D. Gamble of Knoxville, succeeded John A. Story of Greenfield. Edmond Nichols, of Perry, Dallas county, succeeded A. W. Wilkinson. The present judges are J. H. Applegate of Guthrie Center, James D. Gamble of Knoxville, and Edmond Nichols of Perry.
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