USA > Indiana > A History of Indiana from its exploration to 1922 > Part 29
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Evansville was incorporated as a town in 1819, and remained such until it was granted a city charter by a special act of the Indiana Legis- lature in January, 1847. The council appointed James G. Jones its first mayor, and he assumed the duties of office April 12, 1847. He continued in office until 1853, when he was succeeded by John S. Hop- kins who held the office of mayor for the next three years. John Hew- son was then chief executive of the city for a like period, and he was succeeded by John S. Hopkins who held the office of mayor for the next three years. John Hewson was then chief executive of the city for a like period, and he was succeeded by William Baker, a brother of Gov. Conrad Baker, who was mayor of the city from 1859-68. He was followed in office by William H. Walker, but Mr. Walker died in 1870, the second year of his term, and Eccles G. Van Riper was appointed to the vacancy thus created. In the same year, 1870, a spec- ial election was held to fill the office of mayor, and William Baker was again chosen, serving until his death in 1872. Charles H. Butterfield was mayor from 1872-74, and John J. Kleiner from 1874 to 1880. Thomas C. Bridwell served next for six years, and he was followed by John Dannetell, whose term covered the years 1886-89. N. M. Goodlett held the mayoralty from 1889-92, and A. C. Hawkins from 1892-98. A special charter was granted March 3, 1893, a charter amended March 11, 1895, under which the city was then operated.
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i HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY
This charter had the effect of making the mayor responsible in a high- er degree for the administration of the city's affairs, and made his appointees directly answerable to him for their acts. William M. Aiken was mayor during the year 1898, and Charles Covert, from 1899 to 1904, a period of five years. John W. Boehne, to whose ad- ministration the city owes much, came into the office in 1904 and served all but nine months of six years, the last nine months being ad- ministered by John J. Nolan who filled Mayor Boehne's unexpired term when that gentleman took his seat in the national House of Rep- resentatives from this district. Charles Heilman discharged the duties of mayor of the city from 1910 to 1916, and then came Benjamin Bosse, extended mention of whom is made elsewhere, and who, more than any other one man in the office of mayor, worked wonders for the city of Evansville. Endowed with terrific driving force, broad vision, a striking personality, and the ability to "put things over," the impress of his influence is large upon the community. The city is replete with public works of large scope which found their conception in the brain of Mayor Bosse. He served two full terms as mayor, from 1916 to 1922, was elected to a third term, almost against his will, but was taken by death on April 4, 1922, almost at the beginning of his last term. In his death the city sustained a great blow. He was succeeded by William H. Elmendorf, the present mayor, who has carried out the plans of his lamented predecessor with marked ability.
Under its succession of mayors, in the selection of which the city has been fortunate, the development of the city has been aided and stimulated by the many progressive acts of the various administra- tions. With the growth of the city public utility corporations made their appearance, even as early as 1852, when the Evansville Gas Works received its charter. This first concern of its kind was capi- talized at $50,000, and its first officers were Clarence J. Keats, presi- dent ; and John J. Chandler, secretary. For over thirty years this company supplied. the city with heat and light, extending its opera- tions and equipment with the growth of the city. In 1884, the first electric light plant was chartered, and this was soon consolidated with the Gas Works under the name of the Evansville Gas and Electric Light Company. Its first officers were: F. J. Reitz, president ; R. K. Dunkerson, vice-president ; Samuel Bayard, treasurer ; and Thomas E. Garvin, William Heilman and the above officers as the board of directors. This public utility has served the community well, keeping its plant modernized and of sufficient capacity always to care for the wants of the city. The street railway system has grown from a horse- car proposition to a highly efficient electric system which ramifies all parts of the city. That its excellent service and low fares have been consistently kept is due in large measure to the careful scrutiny of the affairs of the utility by the citizenry in general, on one occasion, at least, the system having been saved from the clutches of unscrupulous speculators by the timely and effective action of the public, aroused by its leaders.
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY
The city government is divided into several departments. The executive department is the mayor, while the legislative department is the city council, composed of a member from each of the eight wards in the city and four members-at-large. The council has a president and vice-president, chosen from the council, and a clerk and deputy clerk. Other departments of the government are finance, sinking fund commission, law, public works, public safety, health, water works, buildings, a food inspector, milk inspector, city sealer, a department of parks, the school board, and the city plan commission.
A few facts gleaned from the latest report of the city administra- tion, that for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1922, srve to show the duties of the various departments, and the work that is being done by each.
The finance department has, as its name signifies, charge of the monetary affairs of the entire city. The finances of the city are in a fairly healthy condition, a balance of $134,000 showing at the end of the above year. The department disbursed during the year, including public improvement funds, about one and three-quarter million dollars.
The sinking fund commission retired $15,000 of city bonds, and had in the fund at the end of the year $64,824.34. New issues were made totaling $440,000, and the total funded debt at this time is $1,968,700.00.
The department of public works has charge of the construction and repair of streets, alleys, sidewalks and sewers, and takes care of street repairs, street cleaning, garbage disposal and public buildings. There is in process of construction at this time an addition to the city hall, which will relieve the great congestion felt in the present building. This addition would have been started during the past year if the old police station had not been occupied by the blind. Arrangements have been made to use the Twelfth Avenue school building in the west side of the city for these unfortunates. The problem of garbage dis- posal is one that now is a matter of great concern to this department. Formerly, that is from 1916, the garbage was collected by the Inter- state Rendering Company at a price of $15,000 per year, but the high cost of operation combined with the low market on hides and grease to make the business unprofitable, and it became necessary for the department to take over garbage collection. Attempts were made to let other contracts, but the bids were so high, the best having been for $28,600 a year, that the department decided to take charge of the work iteslf. All bids were rejected, and the cost to the city under the new management, including new equipment and payments made to the Interstate Rendering Co. up to the time contract was forfeited in June, 1922, was approximately $22,000.
The department of public safety has control of the two most im- portant branches of municipal protection, fire and police. The fire department is governed by a chief and assistant chief. There are 124 firemen, 110 fire alarm stations and 13 motor-drawn vehicles. This apparatus is of the most modern type, and compares with any city twice the size of Evansville. Water pressure is excellent, being fifty
1
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY
pounds for domestic use and 100 pounds for fire department pur- poses. The loss from fire has been exceedingly small. At the pres- ent time Evansville is a third-class city in point of insurance rates, but as soon as the new building code goes into effect it will be a second class city. This change in rate should take place before the end of 1923. The police department has been met with an ever increasing burden during the past few years-the burden of traffic handling. The increase in city street traffic that has come with the automobile has been enormous, and the problem of keeping the great streams of ve- hicles moving smoothly through streets which are now hardly adequate to the traffic, is one that has harrassed the police department for years. Several plans have been tried, but the problem is still not completely solved. The police force is well organized under a chief. There are 88 men in the various departments.
The legal department, a city attorney and city judge, represents the city in all court matters in which it is involved. There has been but one judgment rendered on the verdict of a jury against the city of Evansville during the past decade, a fact which speaks sufficiently for the ability of the legal department.
The water works department has in charge the supervision and operation of the city water works, one of the most important duties of the administration. The water works is owned and operated by the city. The source of supply is the Ohio river. The works is equipped with a high pressure system, and the water is purified by gravity type filtration. Engineers from all parts of the country have visited the filtration plant and have pronounced it one of the best in the country. 13,333 homes are supplied with city water, serving approximately 80,- 000 people. The storage capacity of the plant is two and a half million gallons. The consumption is about three million gallons a year, and there are about 150 miles of water mains laid in the city. Water rates are exceedingly low. Meterization of the service has just been com- pleted under a contract awarded to the Gamon Meter Company. The Evansville Water Works is the only one in the middle west that is in class 1-A in the National Board of Fire Underwriters' rating.
The department of parks, one of the later developments in city government, is in control of the public parks and pools and play grounds. The park system of the city is one in which it justly takes pride. There are fourteen parks situated in all parts of the city, con- taining about 500 acres of land, and every school ground has a modern playground. There are six swimming pools, seven public tennis courts, a bathing beach on the Ohio river and a municipal golf course. Gar- vin park is a beautifully wooded plot of ninety acres, and is one of the landmarks of the state. It is equipped with playgrounds, tennis courts, a wading pool, a free swimming pool, and a lake, formed by throwing a da macross a natural ravine, is an ideal boating and skating place. A zoo has been started, which is of great educational value to the children of the city. At the entrance of this park is located Bosse Field, one of the finest athletic stadiums in the United States, built by the school board at a cost of $75,000. The grand stand of this field has a seating
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY
capacity of 8,000, and the field is the home of the Evansville Three I League baseball team. It is used by the schools for all athletic events. The river front for about a mile has been beautified by Sunset Park, containing about fifty acres. This park has a shelter house, and is a popular gathering place. Mesker Park, the gift of one of the citizens of the city, is equipped with shelter houses, ovens and playgrounds, making it an ideal picnic resort. The value of the playground feature can hardly be exaggerated. Authorities positively agree that juvenile crime in cities where supervised and directed play is in vogue has been reduced to a very noticeable degree. Seventy-five per cent. of the crime of the country is committed by youths under twenty years of age, but this condition is being changed by the playground movement. At the various playgrounds and pools of the city young men and women athletic instructors are employed during the summer months to direct and encourage the play. The work at the playgrounds consists of games and plays, story-telling for the younger children, volley-ball, baseball, quoits, croquet and other games. During the past summer (1922) the attendance at the playgrounds at Stanley Hall, Fulton, Cen- tennial, Howard Roosa and Garvin Park was approximately 50,000, about half of which number was credited to the park. The attendance at the six pools, Bosse, West Side, Howell, B. T. Washington, Central high school and J. Artes, open from nine to thirteen weeks during the summer, was 106,484. Ten men and two women were employed at the pools.
The city plan commission, of which Mrs. Albion Fellows Bacon, one of the most widely-known women in Indiana on account of her housing reform work, has done some constructive work, but the nature of it is such that tangible results cannot be shown until all angles of civic authority, development and growth are analyzed and set out in plans, each phase in proper relation with every other phase.
A recapitulation of the comptrollers report for the year 1922 shows how much is now spent in the various departments of the municipal government.
Appropriations
Department of Finance
$248,944.48 3,800.00
Expended $242,637.34 3,455.96
Balance $ 6,307.14
Department of Law
354.04
Department of Public Works 403,656.12
245,823.57
157,832.55
Department of City Parks __
105,362.38
95,881.55
9,480.83
Department of Public Safety
441,846.64
421,630.72
20,215.92
Department of Health and
Charities
54,530.28
43,444.62
11,085.66
$1.258,139.90
$1,052,863.76
$205,276.14
The total assessed valuation of Evansville property is $122,970,600 of which amount $71,163,900 is real estate and $51,806,700 is personal property. Real estate is assessed on 100% of the established market value, and the tax rate is $2.22 per $100.00.
The city is most fortunate in the matter of public libraries, it hav-
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY
ing five principal libraries, Willard, Carnegie, City, East Side and Coliseum, the last located in the Memorial Coliseum, a beautiful build- ing erected as a war memorial under Mayor Bosse. There are twelve branch libraries located in schools, nine in stores, laundries and hos- pitals. There is a total of 85,000 volumes in these libraries, and dur- ing the past year 528,222 loans were made, while 10,253 volumes were added in 1922. Formerly books for the student and the literary person were largely in the preponderance, but as more and more books of a practical nature, for the mechanic, the miner, the home maker, the salesman and the advertiser, have become available, the libraries have added them, and this more than anything else is the aim of the librar- ian-to supply the tools for right working, right living and right thinking.
Evansville is located in the center of a very productive agricultural district. From the fertile fields of the Ohio river valley comes a pro- duction of grains which is equalled in very few districts of central United States. To the north, where we have a more rolling land, we not only find an abundance of grains being produced, but large orchards of apples and peaches and numerous market gardens which produce garden vegetables during most of the year. In the outskirts of the city many large greenhouses are found which are engaged in the production of vegetables during the entire year. This district is not only a great grain producing district, but produces thousands of dol- lars' worth of live stock, each year. Besides being a dairy section, many of the farmers are engaged in the raising of swine, some in sheep, and in the past few years poultry has become one of the leading industries of the farming sections.
In addition to the agricultural wealth surrounding the city, which has an area of ten and one-half square miles, the natural resources in the vicinity of the city are many. Thirty-three million tons of coal are produced annually within a radius of fifty miles of the city, and there are 496,000 acres of undeveloped coal lands within this fifty mile area capable of producing $2,250,000,000 tons of coal. There are 152 mines within this area, three of them being within the city limits. Fuel is consequently cheap and plentiful. Fluorspar, iron ore, lime- stone, molding sand, rock asphalt, sand and gravel and blue soapstone are all found in considerable quantities close to Evansville.
Considering these natural resources, agricultural wealth, beneficent climate and excellent rail and water transportation, it is natural that Evansville should have become a great manufacturing city. About three thousand articles are manufactured here, many of which are known the world over. The city is known everywhere on account of its furniture industry. Thirty-five factories are devoted to the making of furniture and stoves, having a combined output of $25,000,000, their pay roll being one of the large factors in the industrial life of the city. Among the principal products manufactured here are auto bodies, awnings, beverages, bricks, brooms, buggies, chinaware, cigars, flour, furniture, headlights, mattresses, paint, plows, Railroad ties, sheet metal, stoves, tools, trucks, trunks and varnish. The largest cigar
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY
factory under one roof in the world, the Fendrich plant, is in Evans- ville. Its product is sold throughout the country. The largest manu- facturer of infants foods, the Mead Johnson company, is also located here, as is the largest individual furniture factory in the United States.
The distinctive characteristic of Evansville labor is that it is skilled and American, only 4% of its entire population being foreign born. There are 14,328 homes in Evansville, there being homes available for about 92% of the families, and about 70% of the people own their homes. Ownership of homes, high class skilled workers, abundant rec- reational features, steady employment and good wages are the reasons for Evansville being practically free from labor disturbances and dis- putes of a serious moment. 73.9% of the wage earners are male and 26.1% are female, engaged in lines as follows: manufacturing, 47.9 per cent ; transportation, 09.0; trade 13.9; public service, 01.7 ; pro- fessional, 04.7 ; domestic, 10.0; clerical, 8.4 ; unclassified, 04.4.
The Chamber of Commerce of Evansville has done a great deal toward the commercial prosperity of the city. Originally organized many years ago as the Business Men's Association, this chamber has been instrumental in bringing here many of our leading industries. Information in regard to the city is furnished throughout the country, and the problems of the individual business men are analyzed for his help. Its membership is not limited to any group. Every manufact- urer of note belongs ; all leading retail stores are members and have their own bureau. The leading ministers of the city, including Jewish, Catholic and Protestant, all work for the Chamber of Commerce, and professional men and banking institutions are also affiliated with it. The development of the city in its century of existence is written in the achievements of organized business men.
BIOGRAPHICAL
Adam N. Adler, the proprietor of a flourishing grocery and meat market business at 230 East Delaware Street, Evansville, is one of the firmly established business men of the city. His connec- tion with the grocery business started in his youth, and his long experience in this line has enabled him to build up a large and representative patronage in each of the communities in which his establishments have been located. Mr. Adler was born on a farm in Armstrong township, Vanderburgh county, February 21, 1874, and is a son of Nicholas and Margaret (Steckler) Adler. His father, who was born in Germany, November 23, 1836, came alone to the United States as a lad of fifteen years, and after spending some time at New Orleans, his landing-place, made his way to Indiana, where he applied his energies to farming. Eventually he became the owner of a valuable property in Armstrong town- ship, and he is now retired from active labor and a resident of Vanderburgh county. Mrs. Adler, who was born in Germany, August 14, 1846, was one year old when brought to the United States, and died in March, 1888. Adam N. Adler attended public school in Armstrong township until reaching the age of twelve years, at which time he went with his parents to Haubstadt, Gib- son county, where he attended the parochial school three years and the public high school two years. When he was about sixteen years of age he came to Evansville, and in January, 1890, he secured em- ployment with the M. Lyon Clothing Company, at the corner of Third and Main Streets, in the capacity of clerk. After three months he resigned his position and entered the employ of Louis G. Kiefer, who conducted a grocery at the corner of Read and Vir- ginia Streets, and in 1894 became identified as clerk with the grocery of Fred Weber, at First Avenue and Columbia. Mr. Adler remained in the employ of Mr. Weber until he embarked in the grocery business on his own account, October 21, 1899, at the corner of Fulton Avenue and Virginia, a location at which he re- mained for two years. He then moved to Fulton Avenue and Iowa, where he remained for ten years, and in October, 1911, came to his present location, at 230 East Delaware Street, where he soon built up a large and prosperous grocery business. In 1913, he added a meat market to his establishment, and now has one of the best patronized and most modern enterprises of its kind in the city. Mr. Adler has been represented in the grocery department of the Municipal Market ever since its inception in 1918. He belongs to the Retail Merchants Association and holds membership in the Knights of Columbus, the Knights of St. John, St. Henry's So-
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY
ciety and the T. P. A. For thirty-four years he has been a mem- ber of St. Anthony's Catholic Church. February 21, 1900 Mr. Adler was united in marriage with Miss Lonie R. Emmert, of Haubstadt, Indiana, whose father was a carpenter of that city. Three children have come to this union: Neal, born February 17, 1901, who attended the parochial school of St. Anthony's parish, graduated from Porter's Business College in the class of 1916, and is now manager of his father's store ; Leo A., born October 23, 1903, attended the parochial school, graduated after a two-year course from Lockyear's Business College, in 1918, and is now manager of his father's department at the Municipal Market ; and Raymond N., born May 5, 1907, formerly a pupil in the parochial school, who is now attending the Catholic High School. The family home is located near his place of business on Delaware Street, and is a hospitable one, where good cheer abounds.
George F. Ahlering. The management of a large and important business in a thriving and growing city in itself pre-supposes the possession of something more than ordinary ability, and when linked with this is the capacity for the securing of successful re- sults where before only failure had existed, it becomes a matter of certainty that the individual responsible is able and energetic. This statement applies in every particular to George F. Ahlering, presi- dent and manager of the Auto Tire and Rubber Company, of Evans- ville, formerly known as the Otto Tire Company. Mr. Ahlering was born at Evansville, October 2, 1887, and is a son of George B. and Anna N. (Yeager) Ahlering. His grandfather, Henry G. Ahlering, a native of Germany, immigrated to the United States in young manhood and first located at Cincinnati, leading out of which city he built the first turnpike road at a very early day. He then came to Evansville and established himself in the dry goods busi- ness at First and Water Streets, where he remained for many years. Later he was engaged in the lumber business and was thus occupied at the time of his death. George B. Ahlering was born November 1, 1854, at the present site of the fire house headquarters of Hose Company No. I. He was engaged in the sawmill business, asso- ciated with Clements, Reitz & Sons, until his death at the age of sixty-six years. He and his worthy wife were the parents of the following children: George F .; Herbert L., who is deceased; Louis J., general storekeeper for the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad at Danville, Illinois; Louise M., secretary and treasurer of the J. F. Sake & Company brokerage concern, Evansville ; Leona, and Gertrude (Mrs. Paul H. Kuhn). George F. Ahlering attended St. Mary's parochial school and the public schools of Evansville, but it was necessary that he begin work early, as the family was large and the finances small. Accordingly, he took a position, at the age of fourteen years, as a messenger boy for the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad. Later he was promoted to the store room department and then to the accounting department, and thus, working his way up through the different departments,
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