USA > Iowa > Clinton County > Wolfe's history of Clinton County, Iowa, Volume 1 > Part 7
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A fire-proof building was erected west of the court house, forty by forty- two feet and fourteen feet high, divided into two offices, one for the recorder and one for the clerk of courts. Its cost was five thousand dollars.
The court house above described and provided for served Clinton county. with some additions and patching up, until the present magnificent temple of justice was completed in August, 1897. The last named-this new court house-did not, however, come as if by magic, but was secured at the end of a long-drawn-out difficulty between two factions of taxpayers. But before entering into the details of its building, the reader is invited to the following, which was a farewell shot in the proceedings of the county supervisors in 1879, at the old frame court house and the general financial standing and credit of Clinton county at that date :
"The board of supervisors are happy to say that the financial standing of Clinton county is one of the best in the state of Iowa, and we hope it will always continue so. Clinton county has been fortunate in not issuing any railroad bonds, like many other counties, creating a heavy load for her citizens to carry; yet Clinton county has more miles of railroad than any county in the state. Neither have the citizens here burdened themselves with a debt by building a great, unwieldy court house, and although the present court house is not a very permanent structure, yet it is more convenient for the transaction of business than some more expensive ones; and since the fire-proof vaults
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were constructed, the past year, the more important records of the county are safe. And should the people of Clinton county come to the conclusion to build a new court house, at the present prices of labor and material, they could build a better and handsomer one for thirty thousand dollars than any one hundred thousand dollar court house there is in the state, if the money is honestly and judicially handled. The county is possessed of two thousand seven hundred and seventy-three acres of land in other counties; this may be sold at enough to build a court house, without costing the county one cent. The county now has a block in Clinton City of six acres, for county buildings ; the Poor Farm consists of two hundred and forty acres, the property of the county, and the county has forty acres of land near De Witt, which it had to take on the foreclosure of a school mortgage."
THE PRESENT COURT HOUSE.
Among the gems of court houses, or public buildings of any character, within the broad domain of Iowa, there can be no finer than the Clinton tem- ple of justice, whether considered externally or internally. While an illustra- tion would show well its exterior and beauty of design, nothing but a visit to its interior can convince one that the statement just made above is correct. Its pure white marble, granite and metallic interior finish is simply superb. It was dedicated in August, 1897. Its grounds are charming and are orna- mented by a well-kept lawn, beautiful shade trees and flowers, while the cor- ners of the campus or public square are guarded by several monster cannon, relics of the Civil war. The history of how this structure was secured is as follows :
The citizens of the county, seeing that the time had fully come when some new quarters must be provided for its records and more suitable, spacious rooms for its several county officials to transact the increasing business of Clinton county in, they, through the board of supervisors, called an election for the citizens of the county, March 15, 1892, and the issue (in substance) was: "Shall a new court house be erected on block eight in North Clinton Addition, at a cost of not to exceed $100,000, cost of same to be made up by a three mill tax on the property of the entire county." The vote stood for the new courthouse measure, 3,890 and against the proposition, 3,351-a ma- jority of 539 being in favor of a new building. The county board at that date, was made up of the following gentlemen : G. Hansen, L. S. Harring- ton, M. Sullivan. July 11, 1892, G. Stanley Mansfield, of Freeport, Illinois, was secured as superintending architect and G. L. Le Veille, of Omaha, took
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CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
the contract of constructing the same for ($90,500) ninety thousand and five hundred dollars. Work commenced, but soon it was discovered that the foundation was not suitable and the work had to be commenced again. This necessitated additional expense, and so the people had again to be appealed to, through a popular election, to secure more funds. Thirty-five thousand dol- lars more was asked by the board of supervisors. The vote stood one thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight majority against the giving of more funds. Le Veille, the contractor, and the county got into difficulty over the matter, and he was discharged and J. L. Rice, of Clinton, was made superintendent and architect, July 25, 1893.
Things drifted along until June 15, 1896, when the tax-payers were asked to vote bonds to the amount of seventy-five thousand dollars, with which to procure funds to complete the building. This vote stood: For the bonds, three thousand four hundred and sixty-one, and against the bonds, one thou- sand six hundred and ninety-seven. The board was then C. C. Runs, G. D. Stagg and P. B. Ingwersen, with F. Horn as county auditor and ex-officio clerk of the board. The work went forward and the bonds are paid off and Clinton county has a court house indeed a credit to the county and state. Its total cost was one hundred and sixty-eight thousand dollars.
VARIOUS COUNTY JAILS.
In all civilized countries there are law-abiding and law-breaking people, and when society demands protection from the violent, unruly persons of the community, and when examples must be made of lawlessness upon the part of offenders of the laws enacted by the people, then, at times, there has always been need for prison-houses and jails, both national and state, as well as county and municipal. But, be it said to the credit of America, that she will not tolerate dungeons, where man and women, for debt or some trivial crime. must needs suffer inhuman incarceration, but our laws must be executed for the common good of all liberty-loving and law-abiding citizens.
The first jail in Clinton county was in 1855, at De Witt, then the county seat. Scott & Quick were the contractors, and the price paid them was one thousand six hundred and sixty-eight dollars and seventy-five cents. The next jail provided for Clinton county was erected when the court house was built, in 1853-54. It was constructed by William Lawton and had a jailor's house connected with it. The cost of this jail was four thousand dollars. This jail served to keep safe the county's culprits until after the seat of justice had been removed to Clinton, in 1869-70. In fact, long after then the jail of this county
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was maintained at De Witt even until 1885, when the jail was erected at Clinton, at a cost of seventeen thousand dollars, vote taken in 1884, giving a majority for it of one thousand three hundred and ninety-two. Still the county found it necessary to lease certain cells in the Clinton city jail, in order to keep safely prisoners of the worst type during court terms, until the new jail was completed, as it was not practical to convey them back and forth to De Witt.
The present jail, referred to as being built in 1885, is a modern building throughout, having a residence for the jailor and all up-to-date appliances for the comfort and safety of the prisoners. It stands to the west of the new court house, on block No. 8, Clinton.
THE COUNTY POOR FARM.
Not until after the great financial panic of 1857, with a general change of population, did Clinton county have use for a poor form or alms house, for all were able and willing to take care of themselves. But from that date on, and especially after the close of the Civil war period, there came radical changes in conditions and it was found necessary to meet the demands made upon the tax-payers by the number of unfortunate poor within the county. Hence it was that a system was established which has kept pace with the years and today no county in Iowa can boast of a better kept poor farm than this one. It was in 1857 that the authorities of Clinton county purchased a poor farm of two hundred acres, paying the sum of twenty dollars per acre. It was situated in Waterford and Washington townships. About the same time sixty acres of excellent timber land were bought for the use of the county farm. The first superintendent was John McElhatton, who held the position for many years, being succeeded in 1874 by John Blessington. At first the inmates only numbered from four to nine, but soon after the close of the Rebel- lion as many as fifty were cared for at this institution.
About 1878 it was found that with the rapidly increasing number of in- sane and semi-insane persons, that some cheaper provision must be made for caring for these unfortunates too. Hence the following year an asylum was erected, at a cost of five thousand dollars, it being a three-story building, modern in all particulars. For many years the policy was to pay the superin- tendent of the poor farm so much per person per week, or month, for board- ing the paupers, but in the seventies that was seen to be a waste of public funds and since then the superintendent has been a salaried officer, at least in part.
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Improvements have been made, from time to time, on the county farm, by erecting the necessary buildings, etc. From the December 31, 1909, re- port of the superintendent of the farm to the board of county supervisors, the following is shown :
Amount of corn raised, two thousand eight hundred bushels; oats, one thousand two hundred bushels; potatoes, five hundred bushels; tame hay, forty tons. A total was sold from the farm in 1909, of four thousand seven hundred and thirty-three dollars and eighteen cents.
For the same year, there were received twenty-four inmates; nine died; left and discharged, eighteen; total enrollment for 1909, four hundred and sixty-two inmates.
In the insane department of the county farm there were on January I, 1909, twenty-eight inmates; received during that year, one; died in the year, four; in asylum, January 1, 1910, twenty-nine-males thirteen, and females sixteen.
This method of caring for the unfortunate poor and demented has proven all that was claimed for it. The institution is now almost self-sustaining. The inmates are cared for in a humane manner, and all are provided with good wholesome food and warm, clean apartments, with the best of common medical attendance.
ITEMS FROM THE COMMISSIONER AND JUDGES' RECORDS.
The following paragraphs will contain some interesting accounts of early- day county governmental affairs, both under the commissioner and county supervisor systems :
The first special session held was in April, 1841, when, among other bills allowed, was one of ten dollars to Eliza Winnans for use of her house for court house purposes.
The tax levy in 1842 was fixed at five mills on the dollar.
Two ferry licenses were granted in 1841-one to Oliver Alger to oper- ate one across the "Wabseipinicon," opposite his house, and one to Elijah Buell across the Mississippi river, at Lyons. Also, license to run a ferry from Camanche to Albany. The rates for ferrying were fixed at this time by the board and really the men who composed the board had in mind the profit which ferry operators should enjoy.
On the other hand, they only allowed the county assessor the sum of thirty-five dollars for assessing the entire county.
At the July meeting of the board, 1841, the clerk was ordered to notify
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John R. Sloan, of Camanche, that he would be prosecuted for selling spiritous liquors unless he applied and obtained a legal permit.
By an act of the territorial Legislature in 1841-2, the name of the town Vanderburg, the new county seat, was changed to De Witt, in honor of De Witt Clinton, the great early-day New Yorker.
Among the bills allowed at the board meeting of July, 1842, were these: "Ordered that the sum of thirty dollars be allowed to Robert C. Bourne, for one tin-plate stove, and five days' service as commissioner.
"Ordered that the sum of eight dollars and sixty-two and a half cents be allowed Loring Wheeler for two days' service as clerk of the board, and paper and quills furnished district court."
Elijah Buell was authorized to provide a set of weights and measures for the county's standard.
At the board meeting of July, 1843, Benjamin Lake was allowed five dol- lars for drawing plans for a proposed court house. The contracts were let for the structure to William Lawton, for "the brick walls and gable ends" at nine hundred dollars. In August, that year, this order and contract were re- scinded. The amount of tax for that year was reported at five hundred and seventy-nine dollars and thirty-two cents.
At the January, 1845, board meeting, fifty-eight dollars was allowed as bounty paid for fifty-eight wolf scalps. At this session the matter of saloon license bobbed up, as usual, and the amount was fixed at one hundred dollars, but after a night's reflection, and possibly some local pressure, the board con- cluded to cut it down to the old figure of twenty-five dollars.
At the August, 1846, meeting of the county commissioners occurs the first record of any school tax within the county. Prior to that date all schools had been carried on as subscription schools. Now a tax of three mills on the dollar was to be levied for school purposes. James D. Bourne was allowed eighty dollars as remuneration for the duties of sheriff for the year.
Iowa had now become a state, and at the meeting of the board in July, 1850, the matter of building a new court house occupied the minds of the members of the board. John Cotton, James D. Bourne and Thomas F. But- terfield were appointed a committee to erect a building and an appropriation of two thousand dollars was made to be paid out of the county funds, when- ever the citizens of the county should subscribe one thousand five hundred dollars to assist in the building of the same, but it appears nothing was done in the court house matter referred to until 1853.
At the July, 1851, board meeting, the following record was made : Tax- ation for state purposes, three mills ; for county purposes, six mills ; poll tax
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fifty cents; school tax, one mill; for road purposes, every person liable to pay a county poll-tax, shall pay two dollars, and one mill shall be levied for roads and bridges.
August, 1851, was the last meeting of the board of county commissioners, as the office was legislated out of existence in Iowa at that date and the new system of a one-man power county judge ushered in. Aylett R. Cotton had been elected as the first judge under this act of the Legislature and on the 12th of August, that year, opened his first court. His first official act was to issue a marriage license to Dr. A. L. Ankney and Valeria M. Perrin. A contract was made with E. Berold for the making of maps and plats for the county, as required by the code. He was allowed ninety dollars for such expert work and took warrants to the amount of one hundred dollars, because the warrants were at a ten per cent discount in Clinton county then.
At the April, 1852, session of the county court, the matter of revising and changing the boundaries of many of the townships was taken up and dis- posed of, as the reader will see by consulting the township histories in this volume.
In June, 1853, the contract was let for the construction of the court house, which cost about six thousand dollars.
ITEMS FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS.
Judge McNeil's term of service as a county judge continued until De- cember 31, 1859, when he was succeeded by John C. Polley, who served until December 31, 1860, when the powers and duties of the office were vested in a board of supervisors, elected by and sent from each civil township in the county.
The first meeting of the newly created board convened at De Witt, Janu- ary 7, 1861. There was nothing of great historic interest in the proceedings of the board, generally speaking, as it was mostly a routine work of forming districts for school and highway purposes, l'evying annual taxes to carry on the finances of the county, etc.
This run along to the days when the court house excitement commenced, which has been treated under head of "Court House Removal."
Then there was the calling for elections, annual and special, and the official canvass of the votes taken, which was always spread upon the min- utes of the board, until the Australian ballot system came into use in 1892, since which time a regular election book had been kept.
Coming down to 1884, the board called, upon a petition, for an issue to be
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voted upon at the annual election in that year, to determine whether the people wanted a new jail erected. This measure was carried by one thousand three hundred and thirty-nine majority and at an expense of about seventeen thousand dollars the present brick jail was erected, the same being one of the safest and best in the state of Iowa.
It was in June, 1882, when a petition was presented the board for the setting off of all territory in Lyons township into a new sub-division of the county, which was so ordered and the name given to this township was Spring Valley. This, the last township formed in Clinton township, contains about eleven sections of land, making it the least of all in the county. It lies to the north and west of Lyons and was described by the board who created it in this manner :
"Commencing at the northeast corner of the city of Lyons on the west bank of the Mississippi river, thence north along the west bank of said river, and including all islands to the south boundary line of Elk River township, thence west along said boundary line to the northwest corner of section 6, township 82, range 7, thence south to the southeast corner of section 12, town- ship 82, range 6, thence west to the northwest corner of section 13, township 82, range 6, thence south to the southwest corner of the northwest quarter of section 36, township 82, range 6, thence east to the southeast corner of the northeast quarter of said section 36, thence south to the southeast corner of the southeast quarter of section 36, thence east to the southwest corner of the corporate limits of Lyons city, thence north to the northwest corner of said corporate limits, thence east to place of beginning."
FINANCES OF THE COUNTY.
The one great line of distinction between civilized and uncivilized por- tions of the globe is the matter of having some accurate system of dealing with one another and with the government under which people live. The medium of exchange has for centuries been some kind of money, coin or paper script, bearing the edict of the general government. Finance is the "science of rais- ing and investing and disbursing money."
To show how the finances of Clinton county have been at various peri- ods in its history will be the aim of this sub-chapter.
To begin with, it may be stated that when the county was first organ- ized, so few were its people and so small was its volume of wealth, and espe- cially its possession of money, that it had to begin business and continue some time by transacting its business in a rented house at Camanche, and when
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the seat of justice went to De Witt, it had to borrow the two hundred dol- lars with which to pay the United States for the quarter section of land on which to locate the county buildings, which were not forthcoming at once either.
The following is an exact copy of the first financial report of taxes, be- ing the revenue for the year 1840:
JAMES D. BOURNE, IN ACCOUNT WITH CLINTON COUNTY.
DR.
To tax list for 1840
$378.13 (Total)
CR.
By delinquent tax
$ 31.161/2
Excessive tax 24.50
Treasurer's receipts
299.931/2'
Per cent for collecting
22.53
Total
$378.13
Thirty-eight years later ( 1878) the amount of tax for the county had increased to $319,402.58. Mark the wonderful contrast in the financial standing of the county for its a little more than a third of a century.
In 1842, the collector turned in to the county fund only $500. yet an increase was shown over the first report.
The 1843 tax list was $579.32. In 1845 it reached $932.73.
Without going into further detail as. to the revenue of the county, the reader is referred to the year 1878, long after the close of the great Civil war, and to a time when the county had passed from her experimental and formative period. The record shows in 1878 the following assessed valua- tion, by townships, cities and towns, and the total amount of taxation of same in 1878:
Precincts.
Valuations.
Total Tax.
Berlin
$ 235.992
$ 5,759
Bloomfield
368,967
5,963
Delmar
64,134
3,888
Brookfield
316,367
6,169
Camanche
282,914
5,087
Camanche, City of ..
116,572
8,792
Center
401,893
7,500
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Precincts.
Valuations.
Total. Tax.
Clinton
129,728
8,858
Clinton, City of
1,374,705
187,144
Riverside
61,664
4,739
Deep Creek
359,358
7,093
De Witt
504,222
II,025
De Witt, City of.
239,991
6,364
Eden
419,581
7,893
Elk River
492,861
10,759
Hampshire
275,187
4,983
Liberty
225,602
4,584
Lincoln
147,106
2,656
Lyons
112,312
2,297
Lyons, City of
588,931
24,81I
Olive
346,118
6,369
Calamus
49,143
1,403
Orange
265.767
5,564
Sharon
277,855
5,824
Spring Rock
315,615
6,046
Wheatland
72,506
1,68I
Washington
221,519
5,924
Waterford
277,224
5,283
Welton
258,944
4,871
Totals
$8,832,893
$319,402
The total valuation in the county in 1910 was $11,586,315 and the total taxes levied on same was $683,031.46. The contrast with the above is marked to a good degree.
The assessed valuation of all lands in Clinton county, in 1909, was $5,289,000; of all town lots, $2,590,000; value of all personal property, $2,148,000; value of all railroad property, $1,557,000.
CLINTON COUNTY'S PRESENT FINANCES.
The following is a recapitulation of the report made by the county treas- urer in his July semi-annual statement in 1909:
State Revenue Fund $ 199.76 State University Fund 11.45
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CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
Iowa State College Fund
11.45
State Normal Fund
5.72
County Revenue Fund.
12,404.73
Domestic Animal Fund
2,442.41
Bridge Fund
9,624.64
Insane Fund
7,882.77
Poor Fund
3,089.34
Soldiers' Relief Fund
5,281.88
Orphans' Home Fund.
3,641.81
County Road Fund.
5,044.05
Temporary School Fund 6,602.65
Teachers' Institute Fund.
616.95
Admr. Account Unknown Heirs
1,756.35
Special Schools Account Fund
9,297-37
Corporations Fund
1,067.83
Road Fund
214.05
Liquor Fund, Cities
$425.00
Liquor Fund, County
125.00- 550.00 .
$69,745.21
Cash-
Safe, $783.26; drawer, $336.43. . . $ 1,119.69
Banks 68,625.52-$69,745.21
CHAS. A. ARLEN, Treasurer, Clinton County, Iowa.
SALARY OF COUNTY OFFICERS .- 1909.
Clinton county paid the various officials of the county the following salaries in 1909:
Treasurer and deputy, $5,000; county clerk and deputy, $4,000; audi- tor and deputy, $3,800; recorder, $900 and fees; school superintendent, $1,500; sheriff and jailor, $2,000; deputy sheriff, $1,000; county attorney, $1,800; overseer of the poor farm, $900.
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CHAPTER VI.
COUNTY, STATE AND NATIONAL REPRESENTATION.
The following chapter will give the names of all, or nearly all, of the men who have served Clinton county in the capacity of a county, state or national official, from the date of its organization to the present time, 1910:
REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS.
The county of Clinton has been, like other counties in Iowa, in various congressional districts at different times in its history. The following is be- lieved to be a correct list of those who have served this district since the or- ganization of the county :
1848-49 Shepherd Leffler. 1880-81-Hiram Price.
1850-51-Shepherd Leffler.
1881-82-S. C. Farwell.
1852-53-Lincoln Clark. 1883-84-J. H. Murphy.
1854-55-Jno. P. Cook. 1885-86-J. H. Murphy.
1856-57-James Thornton. 1887-88-Walter I. Hayes.
1858-59-Timothy Davis.
1890-91-Walter I. Hayes.
1860-61-William Vanderver. 1892-93-Walter I. Hayes.
1862-63-William Vanderver. 1893-95-Walter I. Hayes.
1864-65-Hiram Price. 1896-97-George M. Curtis. 1866-67-Hiram Price. 1898-99-George M. Curtis. 1868-69-Hiram Price. 1899-1900-John U. W. Rumple.
1870-71-William P. Wolf.
1901-02-Martin Wade.
1872-73-A. R. Cotton.
1903-05-A. F. Dawson.
1905-07-A. F. Dawson.
1874-75-A. R. Cotton. 1876-77-J. Q. Tufts.
1907-09-A. F. Dawson.
1878-79-Hiram Price.
1909-II-A. F. Dawson.
STATE SENATORS.
For Scott and Clinton Counties.
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