USA > Indiana > Franklin County > History of Franklin County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 20
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The value of the telephone system of today cannot be estimated to the people of the country. Great is the contrast since a line of the old-fashioned vibratory 'phone system was in use from the foot of Main street to the foot of the hill near the old canal basin district, which was considered a great achievement in the early eighties. With the invention of the electric tele- phone, distance has almost been annihilated. In the spring of 1915 President Wilson talked from his office in Washington, D. C., to the manager of the Panama Exposition at San Francisco.
Ten years before the Brookville Telephone Company was organized, in 1895, there was a private telephone line in the town. A man by the name of Cassius Alley put up a line in 1884 between Koeber's two bakeries on Main street. They were about four blocks apart, yet the vibratory boxes which Alley installed at either end of his wire were so well installed that conversa- tion was carried on very satisfactory over the line. Alley later put in private wires from the stores of Doctor Buckingham and Louis Hornung to their respective houses. Those were in use until the electric telephone was in- stalled in the town in 1895.
That Franklin county is well supplied with telephones today is evident from the following table which sets forth the various telephone companies having lines within the county. This shows that the Brookville Telephone Company has more miles of lines than any other company in the county :
Name of Company. Miles.
American Telephone and Telegraph Co.
61.44
Central Union Telephone Co.
1 32.75
Batesville Telephone Co.
1 1
30.50
Brookville Telephone Co.
278
Brookville and Oldenburg Telephone Co. 40
Brookville and St. Peters Telephone Co. 1
1
1
1 II
College Corner Telephone Co. of Ohio 1 I 46 Hamilton Home Telephone Co.
1 36 1
1 I I Johnson's Fork and Rockdale Telephone Co. 21
New Salem Telephone Co.
9
I People's Telephone Association of Indiana 52 1
Southern Telephone Co. of Aurora.
J
1
I
. 1
1
1
I 1
214
FRANKLIN COUNTY, INDIANA.
In this connection it might be stated that the Western Union Telegraph Company operates seventy-four miles of lines within the county. Adams Express Company does business on 6.88 miles, while the American Express Company controls 31.05 miles. The Pullman Sleeping Car Company oper- ates 10.13 miles of track, 6.88 of which is on the Chesapeake & Ohio lines and 3.25 on the Chicago Division of the Cincinnati, Chicago Central & St. Louis. The White Water division of the Big Four does not run sleeping cars.
MUNICIPAL INCORPORATION.
Preparatory steps were taken to incorporate Brookville on the first Mon- day of September, 1838, but nothing materialized definitely until March 4, 1839, when C. F. Clarkson and Jeremiah Woods appeared before the board of county commissioners, Samuel Shirk, Robert Templeton and Thomas Flint, and there presented a petition containing the names of seventy-seven of the voters of the town, this being over two-thirds of the legal voters of Brookville, praying that Brookville be incorporated. Later in the same month there appeared in the American and Democrat, local newspapers of the town, notices stating that on Saturday, March 23, 1839, an election would be held for the purpose of electing five trustees preparatory to incorporating the town. The election was held and the board of trustees there elected met on March 25, 1839. At first, districts were designated instead of wards, as now known, which system did not obtain until 1848. The first trustees, representing dis- tricts of the newly formed incorporation, were as follow: Rufus Hammond, first district ; Ransel Curtis, second district ; John M. Johnston, third district ; C. F. Clarkson, fourth district; William T. Beeks, fifth district. These offi- cials were sworn into office before Daniel St. John, a justice of the peace.
A temporary organization was effected by calling Rufus Haymond to the chair and appointing George Berry, clerk ; George Holland, treasurer ; R. P. C. Barwick, lister; Samuel Sheppard, marshal and collector, all to serve for the term of one year.
A legislative act concerning the incorporation of the town of Brookville and for other purposes had three sections that read as follows :
"Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of In- diana, that the petition of the inhabitants of the town of Brookville, in the county of Franklin, to the board of commissioners of said county, for the purpose of incorporating said town under the act entitled, 'An act for the
215
FRANKLIN COUNTY, INDIANA.
incorporation of the town,' approved February 17, 1838, the proceedings of the said board of commissioners, and the election of trustees for said cor- poration be and the same are hereby legalized, and that the said town of Brookville is hereby declared incorporated under said act, provided, that nothing therein contained shall be so construed as to affect the right of in- dividual suit or prosecution commenced prior to the passage of this act.
"Section 2. The funds arising from licenses granted by said corporation under and by virtue of the nineteenth section of the above cited act shall be appropriated for the use of said corporation as the money belonging to the same.
"Section 3. So much of the nineteenth section of the aforesaid act as comes within the perview of the second section of this act as far as regards the corporation of the town of Brookville, be and the same is hereby repealed.
"This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage."
Approved February 10, 1840.
The minutes of the town board meetings give the following in substance, all being matters of real historic interest :
In 1840 the market house was built on ground where now stands the town hall.
In 1849 cholera visited Brookville, causing the death of a number of citizens. A hospital was established in the old Yellow tavern and Doctor Raymond was placed in charge of it.
In 1850 the jail, which had been built in 1827, was set on fire by the inmates and burned, after which Benjamin Remy, contractor, erected the one which was torn down in 1883.
In June, 1872, the board of town trustees directed the town clerk to sell the old market house to the highest bidder, and A. J. Folmsbee purchased it for twenty dollars.
On July 27, 1872, the corporation was enlarged to its present boundaries.
On September 22, 1872, the board met to consider the propriety of building a town hall. Bids were later advertised and Thomas Barton sub- mitted plans and specifications for the cellar of the hall, which were accepted, and the letting of the building of the hall was ordered to be held October I, 1872. The contract was let to Patrick Ryan, John Burkhart and Jacob Smith for finding the material and building the basement.
On August 31, 1875, the plans and specifications of Parsons & Richter, of Indianapolis, for the hall were adopted and the letting directed to be held September 5, but later changed to October II, when the contract was awarded to John McKenzie, of Indianapolis, for twelve thousand three hundred dol-
216
FRANKLIN COUNTY, INDIANA.
lars, to be completed December 15, 1876. The corner-stone of the hall was laid March 4, 1876, Col. William M. McCarthy delivering the address. The trustees who erected the hall were: T. H. Brown, Paul Heasom, Jacob Ger- ber, William Bunz, Sr., and Thomas Barton.
On March 13, 1876, Thomas Barton was ordered to procure a seal for the town of Brookville and such seal was adopted April 1, that year.
In November, 1877, an engine house was contracted for at the west end of Sixth street, the same costing three hundred fifty-eight dollars.
In October, 1881, the trustees decided to procure street lamps, and on November 26, that year, reported having located about thirty lamps in various parts of the town.
From 1883 to 1888 the town put in nine fire cisterns, at a cost of three thousand one hundred and twenty-eight dollars.
In June, 1884, the town paid George Schlapp and Christian Koeber forty dollars for a lot on which a calaboose was erected that month, at an expense of one thousand one hundred and twenty-five dollars, Louis Hon -. ecker being the contractor. The calaboose was used after September 25, 1884.
In May, 1887, A. W. and I. Crist were granted permission to lay pipes for natural gas in the streets of Brookville. In June, of that year, a survey of the town was made and grades established.
In November, 1889, the county commissioners were allowed one hundred and fifty dollars for the town's share toward putting up the town clock.
On February 11, 1890, the Brookville Electric Light and Power Com- pany was allowed permission to erect poles, wires, etc., in the streets and alleys.
Electric lights were first turned on in Brookville, from the plant using the power derived from the Speer paper mill, March 24, 1891, but, the system being a failure, it soon was shut down by the town. A few months later the Eau Claire (Wisconsin) company had their lights in operation and since then the town has had lights from electricity-night service only.
TOWN OFFICERS.
The following is a list of the presidents and clerks of the town board of Brookville since its incorporation in 1839. The list is complete as to who was elected, but there are a few instances where another served out a part of the term of office. In the main the list shows who has been at the head of the town government for the years from 1839 to 1915, inclusive :
1839-43, Rufus Haymond, president, George Berry, clerk; 1843-46,
217
FRANKLIN COUNTY, INDIANA.
Lewis Riggs, president, George Berry, clerk ; 1846-50, R. M. McCleery, presi- dent, I. D. Howland, clerk ; 1850-52, A. W. McCleery, president, E. Haymond, clerk ; 1852-53, George M. Byram, president. Alfred Ward, clerk; 1853-55, C. B. Bentley, president, Alfred Ward and others, clerk ; 1855-56, I. D. How- land, president. John F. Hazzard, clerk; 1856-57, M. W. Haile, president, E. Winscott, clerk; 1857-58, M. W. Haile, president, C. C. Bentley, clerk ; 1858- 59, Wilson Morrow, president, Thomas I. Lyner, clerk; 1859-60, Wilson Morrow, president, R. M. Goodwin, clerk; 1860, Joseph R. Clark, president, Milton Cullum, clerk : 1860-61, C. B. Bentley, president, John Adair Smith, clerk ; 1861-63, Daniel Farrer, president, William H. Bracken, clerk; 1863-64, H. H. Schrichte, president, B. H. West, clerk; 1864-67. I. H. Fudge, presi- dent, J. W. Hutchinson, clerk: 1867-69, Ed Mayer. president. F. S. Swift, clerk ; 1869-71, J. V. Bennesdeffer, president, F. S. Swift, clerk; 1871-74, Jacob Gerber, president, F. S. Swift, clerk ; 1874-76, Jacob Gerber, president, Stephen E. Urmston, clerk ; 1876-77, Thomas Barton, president, E. S. Urm- ston, clerk; 1877-78, Adair B. Line, president, S. E. Urmston, clerk ; 1878-79, M. W. Haile. president, S. E. Urmston, clerk: 1879-80. M. W. Haile, presi- dent, A. H. Rockafellar, clerk: 1880-81. Jacob Gerber, president, A. H. Rockafellar. clerk: 1881-84. S. S. Herrell, president, James B. Kidney, clerk; 1884, S. S. Harrell, president, M. P. Senefeld, clerk; 1885, D. W. Mc- Kee, president, M. P. Senefeld, clerk; 1885-86, J. D. Fieber, president, P. R. Hendrickson, clerk; 1886-88, Charles Bishop. president, P. R. Hendrickson, clerk; 1888-89, Aaron B. Line, president, H. E. Neasley, clerk; 1889-90, J. D. Fieber, president, H. E. Beasley, clerk ; 1890-91, Theodore H. Brown, president, John W. Cates, clerk; 1891, John D. Fieber, president, John W. Cates, clerk; 1891-92, Theodore H. Brown, president, W. E. Schoonover, clerk ; 1892-93, Abe Bossert, president, W. E. Schoonover, clerk; 1893-94, M. C. Armstrong, president, G. H. Bogart, clerk : 1894-95, M. C. Armstrong, president, George L. Wise, clerk; 1895-99, Peter Werst, president, E. H. Wiley, clerk; 1899-1900, Peter Werst, president, W. M. Geis, clerk; 1900-03, Peter Werst, president. William H. West, clerk; 1903-05, M. C. Armstrong, president, Joseph Dacey, clerk : 1905-06, M. C. Armstrong, president, Arthur O. Cates, clerk : 1906-07, Frank X. Seibert, president, Joseph Smith, clerk ; 1907-10, John W. Fye, president, Joseph Smith, clerk; 1910-13, Abe Bossert, president, Joseph Smith, clerk ; 1913-15, Henry Rusterholz, president, Albert Trichler, clerk.
The full set of officers in Brookville in 1915 is as follows : The board is composed of William Burkhart, president; Joseph, Hannan, Clinton E. Grist, Clarence Moore, Abe Bossert; clerk, Albert Trichler; treasurer,
218
FRANKLIN COUNTY, INDIANA.
Charles E. Winscott ; marshal, H. E. Balsley ; secretary of board of health, Dr. G. E. Squier; water-works superintendent, P. T. McCammon; water engineer, Ed C. Burkhart; town attorney, James B. Kidney ; night watch, Adam Peter.
Of the indebtedness of the town, it should be stated that had it not been for the flood of 1913, the town would now have enough in funds with which to install a ·new electric lighting plant, but as it is, it owes five thousand dollars for its expense in protecting the river-front, etc. This is the town's only indebtedness.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
The town is protected by a well-trained volunteer fire company and the direct pressure waterworks, which has its large reservoir on the high hill overlooking the town from the northeast. The reservoir affords a pressure of about eighty-five pounds to the square inch in the bottoms, which will throw a strong stream as high as the clock in the courthouse tower. There are now fire-plugs to the number of sixty, with six miles of water mains through the town. There are five hose houses located in the various wards, and in them are kept sufficient hose and other fire-fighting apparatus to pro- tect the town in any ordinary conflagration. The town owns five thousand feet of good hose, there being a duplicate amount for each hose cart, so that one set is always dry and ready for use. The firemen are paid a nominal sum for each fire alarm turned in, while the chief, who is Adam Peter, a night- watchman, gets extra pay for the extra work he has to do. No fire has suc- ceeded in getting to a second building since the waterworks system was in- stalled, so efficient is the company and its appliances.
THE FIRST WATERWORKS.
Very few of the present generation are aware that a system of water- works was in operation in Brookville as early as 1820. They were the first in the state and, so far as known, the first in the Northwest.
The situation of the town made it impossible to dig a well through one hundred feet or more of glacial drift. Cisterns at that time being an un- known luxury, all the water used for domestic purposes was hauled or car- ried from springs that were found along the river's edge. The spring that furnished the greater part of the water used was found on the bank of the West Fork, about where the water tank is now located. This spring was quite famous years ago. Two barrels were sunk in the ground and were
219
FRANKLIN COUNTY, INDIANA.
always filled with an abundance of clear cool water. Large trees grew near and cast a pleasant shade over the spring making it a pleasant place to rest.
If the old spring could burst forth again, we wonder if it could not tell us many interesting stories of those who carried its waters to the Adair tavern, which is still an old landmark on Main street; of the mothers who carried a bucket of water in one hand and led a child with the other; of the men who talked politics by its side, and of the lovers who strolled there in the twilight and made promises of love that bound them together for life.
The early inhabitants of Brookville were a live, energetic and progressive people. Carrying water from springs along the river proved too much of a task for the people. Some local genius thought of some system of water- works (perhaps some of the good housewives first suggested the idea) by which the water from the springs north of town, now known as "Butler springs," could be made to convey their water through pipes into the town. The system was not such as we are going to have at the present time: they had no pumping station, except nature's and no iron pipes conducted the water through the town. The pioneer system was constructed of the ma- terials furnished by the forest. The mains were sycamore saplings of a three-inch bore, prepared at Amos Church's mill, on the East Fork, by Will- iam Adams, a practical pump-maker of that day. He was paid by the foot for his work.
As is the case today, the people want the water as cheap as possible, and in order to obtain it at a low figure the town put in the plant. Enoch Mc- Carty and Saul Allen represented the town and superintended the work. They paid Amos Butler for the water and right of way five hundred dollars- no small amount in those days, but water they must have, let it cost what it would.
The mains were all laid under the ground. The reservoir was made of oak planks and was eight or ten feet deep. It was located in the high ground where A. W. Butler now lives. From the reservoir the mains ex- tended south to the stock-pen, which was located about where the Catholic church now stands. Only one family-one of the Nobles-could boast of having the water piped in their house. All the other people obtained their water by some outside arrangement. Watering troughs were located along Main street at various places, to water the stock and horses of the farmers, who came in to trade.
Tradition has it that those who lived under the hill and had wells, con- sidered the inhabitants of Main street as being very aristocratic, and, to get even, a stray dog or cat was occasionally deposited in the reservoir.
220
FRANKLIN COUNTY, INDIANA.
The system did not prove to be a very great success. The pipes were made of green sycamore and allowed to lie in the sun for some time before they were laid, which caused them to split at the ends and leak more or less of the water. Then the pressure was so great that the pipes were continually bursting. With these misfortunes, the system only remained in operation from 1820 to 1823 or 1824. After the system was abandoned, the people again carried their water from the spring mentioned above, until twenty years later, when it was discovered that rain water caught in cisterns, was just as good as spring water carried from the river.
THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF WATER WORKS.
The question of supplying the higher levels of the town with water had been discussed every season of drouth, but never took definite shape until July 14, 1890, when, according to the town records, Charles A. Bishop ap- peared before the board of town trustees, at their regular session, and, in an earnest appeal, urged the board to submit the question of building a water works to the people of the town at once. Thereupon the board appointed a committee consisting of James F. West and John Butler, who were in- structed to consult with George F. O'Byrne, attorney of the town, as to the proper legal mode of procedure, visit the water plants of the different cities and towns within a radius of one hundred miles, and report ways and means at an early day.
The committee reported at a special session of the board, July 21, 1890. On August 11, 1890, G. Henri Bogart presented before the board a petition from the resident freeholders of the town, asking that the board call a special election for the purpose of submitting to the legal voters of the town the question of building water works. The petition contained the names of a majority of the resident freeholders of the town. Upon due examination of the petition, the board ordered that a special election be held on the 13th day of October, 1890.
At the regular session of the board, August 16, W. E. Kennedy, of Rockport, Indiana, was employed to make surveys and estimates for the proposed water works. His report was submitted on September II, when he was ordered to prepare plans and specifications and report at an early day.
The committee heretofore appointed by the board visited six or seven different waterworks plants in neighboring towns and cities, and deduced from observations made that the direct pressure system with a small stand- pipe, would be best adapted to the needs of Brookville.
22I
FRANKLIN COUNTY, INDIANA.
On October 13. 1890, the question of building waterworks was decided at the polls by a vote of three hundred and three for and eighty-four against.
On January 8, 1891, A. H. Kennedy presented his completed plans and, after due examination, the board rejected them by a unanimous vote. At the same meeting John Burkhart was employed to make surveys, plans and specifications. On March 9 the new plans were examined and approved, and finally received and adopted as complete, May 2.
On May 14 surveys were made of land required for waterworks pur- poses, the land was condemned, and viewers were ordered to assess damages. On June 13 a letting was advertised to take place. On July 23 two bona fide bids were received-one from Sheehan & Dunn, of Detroit, Michigan, at $26,497.30, and other from James Madden & Company, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, at $27,100. The amount of the lowest bid being a greater sum than the town could legally become liable for, both bids were rejected.
It was now proposed to modify the plans so as to bring them within the limit, viz: two per cent. on all the taxables of the town, and, to place the second venture on a more secure footing, a subscription list for donations to make up the excess that might occur was circulated among the citizens of the town. The people responded generously and one thousand six hundred and two dollars were subscribed, Messrs. Bishop and Tucker heading the list with five hundred dollars. Every dollar subscribed was paid promptly.
On August 14, John Burkhart presented a petition signed by a majority of the resident freeholders of the town praying the board to build a reser- voir system of waterworks, and authorizing the board to create a bonded indebtedness within the constitutional limit.
On July 25 the plans and specifications were revised and modified so as to reduce the cost and bring it within the town's limited means and a read- vertisement was ordered August 24, to be let on the 17th day of September. Three bids were received for the whole plant, viz: Madden & Company, of Fort Wayne, $27,700; Codogan Moran, of Chicago, Illinois, $22,821, and Thomas A. Hardman, of Olney, Illinois, $22,500, Mr. Hardman being the lowest bidder, the contract was awarded to him, he agreeing to accept $21,250 from the town and $1,250 out of the citizens' donation fund, making a total of $22,250 for the whole plant complete, tested to the satisfaction of the board of trustees and superintendent. Contract was entered into September 21, 1891, and first ground was broken on the work on September 26. John Burkhart was appointed superintendent of construction.
Details of the plant were as follow: The well sunk on the bank of the East fork of White Water is twenty-five feet deep, twenty feet inside diameter
222
FRANKLIN COUNTY, INDIANA.
and twelve feet below low-water mark in the river; it is walled with stone laid in hydraulic cement. The pump house is a substantial brick building, twenty-eight by thirty-six feet, built on concrete and stone foundations, with cement floor and slate roof, situated eight feet west of the well. The steam plant consists of a fifty-horse-power steel boiler and a standard com- pound duplex pumping engine of twenty-five thousand gallons capacity per hour. The whole stream plant is one of the best equipped in the state. It was built by the Laidlaw & Dunn Company, of Cincinnati, Ohio. The pump has a mean lift of eighteen feet through an easy bend, eight-inch suc- tion pipe thirty-five feet long, and the discharge-pipe is six inches in diameter, one thousand eight hundred feet long, and has a vertical rise or pressure-head of two hundred and two feet, delivering the water into the reservoir near its bottom, and is connected with the outflow, or town-supply main, inside of the reservoir basin and equipped with valve gates so that at will the water can be delivered directly into the supply mains of the town independent of the reservoir, and a direct pressure can be maintained. The reservoir is lined with stone and is plastered with Portland cement, having a three-foot arti- ficial-stone walk all around the basin. The basin is fifteen feet deep and will hold three hundred and sixty-two thousand gallons of water, equal to a four-day supply for three thousand inhabitants, each using thirty gallons per day. The reservoir is romantically situated and, when nature has carpeted over the rough surface made by pick and shovel, it will be one of the most beautiful places around Brookville. The pleasant dream is indulged by many of our enterprising citizens that some day not far distant the whole of the hill and its broad sides may be owned by the city and converted into a park, thus furnishing a pleasant retreat during warm weather. The emin- ences at and above the reservoir furnish fine views of the city and the valleys stretching out from it and it would be gratifying if it could be dedi- cated to the people as a pleasure resort.
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