USA > Indiana > Cass County > History of Cass County, Indiana, from its earliest settlement to the present time; with Biographical Sketches and Reference to Biographies, Volume I > Part 48
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90
Digitized by Google
372
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
The first steam fire engine was purchased February 3, 1870, and was named "Chauncey Carter." At this time the officers of the Tipton fire company were: C. B. Knowlton, George Bevan, S. B. Boyer, G. J. Groves, G. W. Brown, J. F. Carney. The "Summit" officers were : S. T. Weirick, D. H. Mull, D. Comingore, Dan Redd. On October 13, 1869, the Champion Fire Company was organized in the Seminary and the Tipton hand engine was turned over to that company, after the arrival of the steamer. On April 10, 1871, the Independent Hose Company was organized with J. H. Ivans and and H. J. Larimore at its head. A fire company was organized in (Browntown) west side, January 19, 1871, with Dennis Uhl as foreman and D. R. Miller assistant.
On January 31, 1865, a grand supper and ball was given at the courthouse by the firemen and the proceeds, $346.75, was turned over to J. C. Merriam, treasurer of the Relief Society, for the benefit of sol- diers' families.
December 11, 1872, the Champion company in the east end elected Rodney Strain foreman. At that time the company had fifty active men. Another steamer the "Clapp & Jones" was bought July 2, 1873. The Eureka Fire Company in Browntown was organized April 1, 1874, and the old Tipton hand engine was turned over to them for fire pro- tection to the west side. The Summit company disbanded in 1873. because the second steamer was given to the Champion company on Fifteenth street.
A fire company was organized on the south side March 23, 1875, known as the "Enterprise" company. We thus find independent fire companies organized in different sections of the city, erecting engine houses and giving their services free, for mutual protection and bene. fit. The city, however, in later years purchased hand engines for their use and when they were replaced in the center of the city by the two steamers, an engineer was paid to take charge of them, but paid only when needed to operate it. In 1875 the old canal was abandoned and the principal source of water was gone, which impelled the city to con- struct the waterworks and after its completion the fire department became much more efficient. The first water was pumped into the water mains on August 4, 1876, and the first fire at which the waterworks were used was on October 3, 1876, at a small fire on Fourth, near North street.
FIRE ALARM TELEGRAPH
There was no way of announcing fires except by runners and ring- ing of fire bells, until 1877, when the city contracted with a Richmond firm to construct a fire alarm system invented by James McCullough, on April 6th of that year to cost $3,500. This system was only fairly sat- isfactory and in 1893 the "Gamewell," a new and improved system, was installed and now the city has sixty-two fire alarm boxes located in every part of the town, so that fires can be promptly announced from the remotest points and saving valuable time. That the fire alarm has proved a decided success is attested by the fact that thousands of dollars worth of property have been saved by the prompt announce- ment of fires since its adoption.
PAID FIRE DEPARTMENT
With the growth of the city and solid business blocks erected of tall dimensions, requiring improved and prompt methods of fighting fire with experienced firemen, the city reorganized the fire department November 5, 1879, and placed it on a financial basis, paying regular
Digitized by Google
373
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
firemen to devote their entire time to the work, with H. J. Larimore as the first chief of the paid fire department. The city now has four engine houses, located at follows: West side engine house on Front street; one at No. 417 Fifteenth street; 610 North street, and southeast corner Sixth and Broadway, where all necessary hose carts, chemical engines, ladders and fire fighting apparatus of the most modern pat- tern may be found. At each engine house is kept a team of horses, trained, that at the sound of the gong move to their place, the harness drops on their backs and by a single snap is fastened and are off in a moment to the place of fire. John Griffin is the present chief of the fire department and has twenty trained men under him who sleep at the different engine houses, ready for any emergency, day or night. There are two hundred and seventeen fire plugs distributed in every part of the city where fire hose can be attached. With an ample supply of water, the latest fire fighting machinery and a trained corps of firemen, the Logansport fire department is not surpassed by any city of the state. The total expense of the fire department the past year was $20,200.
SOME NOTABLE FIRES
First large fire was Geo. Cecil's cooper shop on the south bank of .
Eel river, west of Sixth street, November 8, 1854; loss, $3,200.
December 25, 1858, the roof of the Forest Mill was burned with a loss of $3,028.
August 6, 1861, J. M. Keeps' lumber yard and Knowlton & Oben- chain's foundry. Loss about $10,000.
A $9,000 fire occurred February 10, 1870, on east side of Fourth street, south of Market.
May 18, 1873, old Cheney sawmill on the Point, also Stevens' planing mill, built in 1845.
July 15, 1873, Tenth street schoolhouse.
August 25, 1873, Jas. L. Baldwin's distillery, on the north bank of Eel river.
November, 1879, Spiker & Harrison wagon factory, on Toledo street near Fourteenth; loss, $40.000.
ELECTRIC LIGHT
The Logansport Jenney Electric Light & Power Company was organized October 2, 1883, for the purpose of lighting the city by elec- tricity. The Jenney system had previously been adopted by the city council and the proposition of the company to light the city's streets for $5,500 for one year was accepted. The company was composed of local men, but backed by the Jenney Electric Light Company of Ft. Wayne, which company was manufacturing electric machinery. The officers of the local company were: A. R. Shroyer, president; Victor E. Seiter, secretary, and Wm. Dolan, manager. Directors: P. W. Moore, J. S. Wilson, R. T. McDonald, J. N. Booth.
.
The company erected its plant on the city's ground at the north end of Eighth street, consisting of dynamos run by one hundred and fifty horse-power Corliss engine and was put in operation January 1, 1884. The city paid an annual rental of $150 per street lamp and the contract with the city ran for ten years, at the expiration of that time the city erected its own municipal lighting plant on Eel river, just east of the water works and began operating it January 1, 1895, since which time the municipal plant not only lights the streets and public places, but also furnishes light and power to private consumers at lower rates than the majority of the cities throughout the country. The power
Digitized by Google
374
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
ยท rate to large consumers has been recently reduced to one and one-half cents per kilowatt and the private lighting rate to six cents.
The unexpected patronage of private consumers has necessitated the enlargement of the original plant at different times since its first installment in 1894. At that time water wheels were put in to make use of the extra water power not required to run the water works, but the time that they could be operated was so limited that they have been taken out and the dynamos are now run exclusively by steam. The plant as reconstructed and enlarged now has five large dynamos, two of which are run by direct connections with two turbine steam engines and the combined power of all the engines is equal to two thousand horse power with a boiler capacity of three thousand horse power. In September, 1911, a cable carrier to transport coal from the Vandalia railroad across Eel river, was constructed at a cost of $4,130 which has proven a great convenience and cheapens the handling of coal. The increase of business of the plant has been phenomenal and there are now four thousand, five hundred and sixty-seven consumers.
The total receipts of the plant for last year was $102,000. The total running expenses amounted to $43,860.
The actual cost of the plant is difficult to ascertain as in the begin- ning the different funds were not always kept separate but the estimated value at this time is $850,000, and the net earnings will pay ten per cent on this investment. For the past three years the operating expense and repairs have been only forty-three per cent of the gross income. The plant has been a money maker for the city in addition to lighting the streets and public halls.
POLICE DEPARTMENT
Prior to 1893 Logansport's policemen were subject to the political - whims of the mayor and city council, and were changed as often as the party in power changed, but in that year the metropolitan police law was enacted by the legislature, placing this department under the control of a non-partisan police board, appointed by the governor, put- ting it on a civil service basis and entirely removing the department from local political influences.
In 1909, however, this law was changed, giving the mayor the power to appoint the police commissioners, which now consist of John W. McGreevy, John Brookmeyer and Joseph Wolfe, who have power to appoint policemen and direct their movements. The force as now con- stituted is composed of twenty men.
To facilitate the work of the department in 1911, the police board purchased an automobile police wagon or ambulance, at a cost of $3,625, and also a motorcycle which greatly aids the men in running down evil- doers.
STREETS
When Logansport was first laid out a dense forest covered the whole townsite. These trees had to be cut down and the stumps long remained. The first streets opened in the town were thus decorated with stumps around and between which travelers were compelled to make their way. The roadway between the stumps was the dark, native, alluvial soil and after a rain, presented more the appearance of a lake of Trinidad asphalt. For the first twenty years of Logansport's existence as a town, a yoke of oxen hitched to a cart or log wagon, stuck in the mud on the principal streets was no unusual scene. Many amusing incidents are told of how the "wags" of the town would collect around the pio- neer's outfit stuck in the mud and jeer and make caustic remarks about
Digitized by Google
.
375
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
the handsome paved streets of this town on the Wabash, and what great conveniences were provided for the pedestrians, even seats were every- where abundant, in the form of stumps. Gradually, however, the stumps decayed and were removed, although even in recent years walnut stumps are discovered in making excavations, that were left where they grew and were covered over when the streets were graded and im- proved. There is an abundance of gravel in the hills in and around Logansport, but it was many years before it was utilized in improving the streets. The majority of the city streets are sixty-six feet wide, forty-six feet of which is road way and ten feet on each side is taken up by the sidewalk. Many years ago all the principal streets were. graded and graveled, the gutters improved by bouldering with cobble- stones and the sidewalks graveled. The first street to be improved by paving was Fourth street, in 1893-4, since then all the principal busi- ness streets have been paved with brick and in 1910-11 Broadway and North streets were improved with asphalt.
The city engineer makes the following report of the number of miles of streets and also the various kinds of improvements :
Total number of miles of streets in the city 57.8
Total number of miles of graveled streets 51.4
Total number of miles of brick pavement. 2.8
Total number of miles of asphalt. 3.2
Total number of miles of macadamized street. 0.4
Total number of miles of cement sidewalks 103.0
It is said that Logansport has more miles of cement sidewalks than any other town in the state, of its size, and a wonderful transformation from the conditions existing since the city was incorporated seventy-five years ago.
The total expeditures for street purposes last year amounted to $41,418.63, showing that Logansport is not neglecting her streets.
CITY FINANCES
The following statement of the controller shows the city is running on a sound financial basis:
The total receipts from all sources for 1912. .$376,686.39.
The total expenditures for all sources for 1912. 314,942.46
The city's present indebtedness is. 135,000.00
The assessed valuation for taxation is $12,500,000.
Rate of taxation is $1.25 on each hundred dollars of appraisement.
POPULATION
To show the gradual development of Logansport we give the popu- lation by decades, as follows :
1833, 501; 1840, not reported; 1850, 2,251 Eel township ; 1860, 2,979; 1870, 8,950; 1880, 11,198; 1890, 13,328; 1900, 16,204; 1910, 19,050.
CITY BUILDING
Logansport has never owned the building which has been occupied by its offices, but has always rented offices for municipal purposes. In the sixties the city offices were located at 428-30 Broadway; in the seventies, in the second story of the northwest corner of Pearl and Market; in the eighties at 412-14 Fourth street, and for the past twenty-
Digitized by Google
.
376
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
five years at the northwest corner of Third and Broadway. About twenty-five years ago the city purchased a large lot located on the southeast corner of Sixth and Broadway, upon which to erect a city hall, but has never been able as yet to build. Within the past few years, how- ever, a small tax has been levied to create a building fund which now amounts to about $15,000, and the city contemplates erecting a com- modious city hall and assembly room in the near future.
PARKS
Until within the past twenty years Logansport has made no effort to secure or lay out parks. When the pioneers first platted the town it was a forest park. They knew nothing of parks, did not realize the future of the town and that the day would come when the forests would all disappear and the land be occupied by houses or cultivated fields and no place where the city population could get a breath of fresh air or sit and view the beauties of nature. In the early nineties, however, the citizens of Logansport began to realize their mistake and took steps to correct it, but the golden opportunity had passed. Land in the cen- tral part of the city was all built upon by private parties and the most desirable and advantageous ground for parks could not be had. Spencer Park given to the city by Wm. Spencer in 1892, consists of twenty or thirty acres of land situated on the south bank of Eel river about a half mile east of the city limits but easily reached by street cars. This is a very beautiful park covered with fine groves of native trees and has been improved by drives, walks and pavilions, and is a great resort for picnics and meetings of all kinds during the summer season.
The ground composing Riverside Park was purchased by the city together with the water power in the establishment of the water works in 1875. It consists of about ten acres lying on the south bank of Eel river and extending from Tenth to Fifteenth street. This park was little more than a frog pond until about 1895, when the city began to fill it up and improve it. A driveway extends around it, a flowing well furnishes water and a fountain and other improvements erected. The trees have grown and it is fast becoming a beautiful park, and having a river frontage and being near the center of the city, is a very popular resort for the tired and pent-up population of Logansport down-town districts.
About the same time the county purchased ground west of the court- house and has converted it into a beautiful place known as Court Park.
About 1908 the city built a cement wall along the north bank of Eel river, west of the Third street bridge and has otherwise improved a narrow strip of ground along the river, including an artesian well. This was named Mckinley Park after our lamented martyred presi- dent. Judge D. D. Dykeman, who died February 23, 1911, willed to the city a large tract of land lying to the northwest of town. He also bequeathed to Cass county a tract of woodland on the south bank of the Wabash river, four miles east of the city for park purposes. Al- though these bequests are in litigation, however, it is hoped the public may become possessed of them and hold them for a breathing place for our rapidly increasing population which will be more appreciated as time passes and our forests are destroyed.
Digitized by Google
CHAPTER XXXIV LOGANSPORT'S SCHOOLS
FIRST SCHOOL-OLD SEMINARY-FIRST TEACHER-PRIVATE SCHOOLS- FIRST GRADED SCHOOLS-FIRST SUPERINTENDENT-HIGH SCHOOL- LIST OF SUPERINTENDENTS-EEL TOWNSHIP SCHOOLS-LIST OF TRUS- TEES.
Schools and means of education seemed to dominate the minds of the pioneers, for scarcely had the town plat been surveyed, April 10, 1828, until we find such sturdy men as Gen. John Tipton, the Indian agent; Col. John B. Duret, his secretary ; Maj. Daniel Bell, Jos. Barron, . Hugh B. McKeen, Gillis McBean and Dr. Hiram Todd, calling a meet- ing for the purpose of considering some methods and taking such meas- ures as might be necessary to establish a school, although Logansport then consisted only of a few log cabins surrounded by a dense forest where the Indian and wild beast roamed at will. At a meeting held September 27, 1828, a subscription was raised of $500 of which General Tipton contributed $150, and a building committee was appointed; also one on organization. On the 29th the committees reported, an organ- ization was perfected and the contract let for the erection of a one- story brick building, 20 x 40 feet, containing two rooms, to be built on lot 55, situated on the northeast corner of Fourth and Market streets, donated by Chauncey Carter, who laid out the town, but in reality owned by General Tipton. The contract price for this, the first public building ever erected in Cass county was $300. The organization thus perfected was known as the Eel River Seminary Society, and it was incorporated under that name January 1, 1829, and John Tipton was its first president.
The building was pushed to completion and the first school in Cass county was opened the first week in March, 1829, with John Mckinney, then recently from Detroit, as the first teacher, at a salary of $100 per quarter, and the grades of tuition being $3 and $4 per term. Mr. Mckinney remained only one term. The next winter session was for six months, commencing December 8, 1829, with Geo. Lyon as principal and Mrs. J. B. Turner as assistant. The trustees on June 2, 1830, divided the school year into two sessions of five months each. The summer session beginning June 1st, and the winter term December 1st. The school was also divided into four classes, the first to consist of those studying first principles and orthography; the second of reading, writ- ing and arithmetic; the third of English grammar and geography; the fourth of surveying, mathematics and languages.
Rev. H. A. Hunter and Selby Harvy were the next teachers employed. In April, 1832, the name was changed to the Eel River and Cass County Seminary Society, and the building has always been known simply as the old seminary. As the population increased additional facilities were demanded. Accordingly, on November 14, 1836, the society determined to sell the old property and reinvest in more commodious quarters,
377
Digitized by Google
378
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
however, there were various delays and it was some years later before the change was perfected. It was currently reported that General Tipton donated the site for the new building, but if so, no record of that fact is to be found and after his death we find that on August 11, 1840, the Cass County and Eel River Seminary Association bought of General Tipton's estate the square of ground lying between Thirteenth and Fourteenth, Broadway and Market streets, but the deed was not promptly executed, as was so often the case in early days, and it was not until August 15, 1855, that D. D. Pratt as commissioner, executed a deed for this square to the Cass County and Eel River Seminary Association. In the meantime, however, the society let a contract for the erection
OLD SEMINARY ERECTED ON 13TH STREET IN 1848-9, REPLACED IN 1874
of a three-story stone building for the sum of $6,465.11, but there were many extras added thereto. This was a substantial and commodious structure in its day and then stood way up, out of town, in the woods and has always been called the "Seminary." It was first opened for educational purposes in September, 1849, with Rev. M. M. Post, Cass county's first resident preacher, as principal, with several assistants. The title to this property remained in the name of the old society, although under state laws such property was used for public school purposes, until March 28, 1872, when it was, by a smooth piece of maneuvering, conveyed to Logansport Female College. This corpora-
Digitized by Google
379
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
tion on March 25, 1873, for the sum of $12,500, deeds the property to the city of Logansport. The old stone seminary becoming too small for the increasing population, during the year 1874 was replaced by the present substantial brick Central or Lincoln school building, which in this year of 1913 the school board has taken steps to tear down and erect in its place a $175,000 high school building, which seems to be imperatively needed to accommodate the rapidly increasing numbers attending our high school.
Father Post was succeeded in the management of the school in this old stone seminary, under the auspices of the Cass County and Eel River Seminary Society, by Irwin W. Gates and Rev. H. W. Shaw, but later conducted chiefly as a matter of private enterprise, depending for support wholly upon the success of the lessees of the building until the old seminary was finally turned over to the city for a public school.
There was very little public money and only scanty aid given the schools prior to 1862. Up to that time private subscription schools were the only opportunity people had to educate their children, but there were many teachers who opened private schools and others who were employed by a community to teach in a rented room or hall, and we will mention a number of such schools and their locations:
In 1845 John I. Murphy taught school in "Commercial Row," 221 Market street, and Mr. Barnett in the old city hall, 40712 Broadway. For many years in the forties and fifties, school was taught in the sec- ond story of an old frame building that stood on the northwest corner of Fourth and Broadway, by Mr. Howland, Murphy and others.
There was a public school building on the north bank of Eel river, at the foot of Vandalia street, where Cy McPherson, Mr. Howland, James Jackson and others taught from 1840-1864 and until the Bates street school was established.
During the fifties the old Methodist church that stood at 212-14 Sixth street was used for school purposes, in which James Jackson taught. In 1851 Wm. P. Kouts had a private school in a one-story brick build- ing on the northwest corner of Tenth and Market streets. In 1849 John I. Murphy held school in a room at 40812 Broadway. The basement of the Episcopal church was used as a school room from 1850 to 1862 by Mrs. Miles, Phoebe Egbert and others. In the year 1837 a Mr. Kitchen kept a private school at 621 North street. In 1849 Miss Merrill opened a private school at 212 Seventh street.
The basement of the First Presbyterian church was occupied as a school room from 1842 to 1852 by James Spiers and others. In the fifties school was taught in an old frame building where the Broadway Presbyterian church now stands. Wm. Mitchell and James Jackson taught a private school at 130 Sixth street where Maurice's butcher shop now stands, during the fifties and about the same time school was kept in the Keystone building, northwest corner of Sixth and Broad- way. In 1851 Mr. Lynch and Sophia Smith taught school at 601 Broad- way, where the engine house is now located and in 1852 in a building at 630 Broadway, where the present high school building now stands. In 1848 a school was opened in an old building at 603 Market street, where the postoffice stands, and in the early fifties Cy McPherson kept a school at 1215 North street. In 1841-3 Judge Thos. H. Wilson and John F. Dodds ran a private school at 106 Fifth street, where the old Ware house now stands, and E. S. Rice and Wm. Richardson attended; prior to this they also went to school to W. H. Cole, who taught in the Masonic building, corner of Fourth and North streets.
In 1856 Mrs. Van Norman conducted a private school at 825 Spear street. In 1850 Mrs. J. Howes opened a school at 714 Broadway and Mrs. Vigus at 1100 Broadway. Probably the first colored school was
Digitized by Google
-
380
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
taught in 1859 by Wm. Mitchell in a frame building on Front street, near the foot of Vandalia street, followed by his daughter, Eleanor Mitchell. Schools were taught in early times at the southeast corner of Third and Broadway; 213 Third street; 21912 Fourth street ; north- east corner of Third and Broadway; 455 Michigan avenue, east of Bur- lington avenue, in Tabertown, where Wm. Mitchell, Mrs. Thorpe, Mr. Henchman, Henry Ball, James Jackson, Cy McPherson, and other pioneer teachers wielded the birch.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.