USA > Indiana > Vigo County > History of Indiana from its exploration to 1922, Vol II > Part 30
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· Laws of Indiana, 1833, ch. LXIII.
970
HISTORY OF INDIANA
and notify the secretary of the board what the illness was. There is evidence in many of these charters of the dread of the pestilences of yellow fever and chol- era which annually devastated many Indiana towns of this period. The city physician of Michigan City was required to examine every person on incoming ships before allowing them to land. The charters of Madison and Lawrenceburg, issued in 1838, estab- lished health boards to guard against epidemics of yellow fever and cholera brought by down river boats.
The towns of Lawrenceburg and Madison were constituted cities by the same act in 1838.7 Little change was made in the form of government. Madi- son was given a council of eight members elected annually, and a mayor elected every three years. The grant of power is copied verbatim from the char- ter of Michigan City, so far as it would apply, with similar details and specifications.
Logansport also received a city charter that year, bearing date, February 17, 1838, granting a similar government with almost exactly the same grant of power. The officers, to be elected annually, were mayor, recorder, treasurer and five aldermen. Indi- anapolis received a charter this same year, February 17, 1838, but had to be content to remain a town along with Greensburg, Evansville, Paoli, Delphi, Martins- ville, Rockport, Greensboro, Raysville, Princeton, Lebanon, Terre Haute, New Boston, Laporte, and New Washington. It will be remember that this As- sembly adjourned before the panic of 1837 began in Indiana. However, Jeffersonville and New Albany were added to the list of cities by the Assem- bly of 1838. Fort Wayne and Richmond became cities
7 Laws of Indiana, 1837, ch. III. The date, 1837, used in the first and second sections of this law are evidently misprints.
971
EARLY CONDITIONS
in 1840. The former governed by a mayor and six aldermen, known collectively as the common council, the mayor being constituted a city judge with exclu- sive jurisdiction over all suits arising from violation of city ordinances; the latter by a mayor and two councilmen from each ward. Indianapolis received a city charter, January 26, 1847 ; Evansville, January 27. These were the last issued under the old consti- tution.
A glance through the charters will show that the chief functions of the city and town governments of the period were keeping order, that is police duties, and making streets. The best streets were macadam- ized, a few graveled, and by far the largest part mere dirt roads. In Indianapolis as late as 1850, excepting the National road-Washington street-there was no street on which heavy hauling could be done when the ground was wet. Madison had two good roads, one of which was the Michigan road and the other the Main street, parallel with the river. The board of health mentioned in several of the charters was an emergency board to guard against the epidemics and keep the most intolerable nuisances, such as tan yards, out of the residence part of the town. Very little was done, or could be done under the law, for the social betterment of the people. Then, as now, the insistent problem was the control of saloons with their attendant vices, gambling and prostitution. The General Assembly delegated its power sparingly. Taverns operated under special charters or state laws, saloons were governed by state laws with the power given occasionally to a town to regulate to a limited extent by local option vote. The general law of 1838 permitted town boards at their discretion to tax "tippling houses," that is houses in which liquor was sold by the drink, $25 per year, but gave them no permission to refuse so to license them.
972
HISTORY OF INDIANA
The general law of 1824 gave towns the right to determine by a two-thirds vote whether they should incorporate. Towns incorporating under this law ' were governed by a board of five trustees elected annually. The power of this board as interpreted by the courts was meager.8 Little change was made in the Revision of 1831 except that trustees were chosen one from each ward instead of on a general ticket as formerly. The provisions of this general law were inadequate, as noted above, and almost all the towns in the state received special charters.
§ 175 COMMUNITIES
There were a number of attempts during the per- iod preceding the Civil war to unite communities into a closer social organization. These were of two gen- eral classes; religious, following the general princi- ples of the Rappites of Harmonie; and industrial, following the general lines laid down by the Owens at New Harmony.
January 13, 1845, a charter was issued to a body of citizens of Lagrange county under the corporate name of the Lagrange Phalanx. It was empowered to hold property "for the purpose of agriculture, trade, commerce, manufacture and education" and
8 Revised Laws of Indiana, 1824, ch. CXI: "The president and board of trustees, or a majority of them, shall have full power from time to time, and at all times, to make, ordain, establish and execute, such by-laws and ordinances In writing, not Incon- sistent with the laws and constitution of this State, as they shall deem useful and necessary for the good government of said cor- poration ; and to prevent and remove nuisances, to restrain and prohibit gambling, or other disorderly conduct, to provide for shows or amusements within the corporation, to regulate and establish markets, to sink and keep in repair public wells, to keep in repair all necessary streets, alleys and dralns, and to pass regulations necessary for the same, agreeably to the plan of sald town." p. 415, sec. 8.
973
COMMUNITIES
"for exhibiting and carrying out the principles of associated communities according to the system taught by Charles Fourier." It was patterned after the Brook Farm community, no religious test being applied to the membership.ª It had a constitution of thirty articles and was composed of first rate men. There were over one hundred persons living under the same roof and eating at the same table. Their phalanx home was 210 feet long, twenty wide and two stories high. The dining room, forty by twenty-four, was in the center of the first story while immediately above, and of the same dimensions, was the school room for the children. A council of industry regu- lated the industrial affairs. All financial obligations were expressed in hours of labor of a certain kind. A standard day was ten hours, but ten hours of plow- ing equaled only eight of grubbing. A council of commerce regulated the buying and selling ; a council of education had charge of that work, and so with other lines of activity. A council usually consisted of three members including the president of the Pha- lanx. Those who lived in this community have stated that the experiment worked with great satisfaction, especially was their school superior to others in the neighborhood. The act constituting the society was repealed, January 13, 1851, and three men were ap- pointed to distribute the property among the mem- bers. That this was done without resort to the courts shows a high degree of honor and intelligence among the members.1º
A highly organized religious community was or- ganized, or founded, at West Union, Knox county (now Sullivan), about sixteen miles north of Vin- cennes, near the mouth of Busseron creek. There
9 Laws of Indiana, 1844, ch. LXI.
10 History of Lagrange County, 1882, p. 68.
974
HISTORY OF INDIANA
were said to be at least 200 members of this village.11 This settlement was made in 1805. The members came principally from Kentucky, receiving their in- spiration from the Great Revival at Cane Ridge. They established a co-operative society, based on re- ligious tenets, holding all their property in common, and forbidding marriage. When the War of 1812 broke out they returned to Ohio, returning to Knox county soon after its close. The colony owned 1300 acres on the beautiful Shaker prairie. The place was locally known as Shakertown. The first large com- munity house was erected about 1820. It was 48 by 56 feet, built of brick, three stories high with a full basement. It contained 25 rooms besides three large halls. The men and women lived apart, each with their own separate kitchen and dining room. The following year, 1821, they erected a temple for wor- ship 40 by 44 feet. The community engaged in farm- ing, manufacturing cutlery, brooms, and baskets and operated a distillery and grist mill on Busseron creek. Their extra produce was shipped by flatboats to New Orleans. The Methodist circuit riders made truceless war on the sect and finally drove it out. The last building, the temple, was destroyed in 1882.12
§ 176 RISE OF THE CITIES
The General Assembly of 1852 passed a general
11 Calvin Green and Seth Wells, The Millennial Church, 1823, p. 75. "Shakertown, the residence of the Shakers, consists of eight or ten houses of hewn iogs. The number of inhabitants is estimated at 200, who live in four families. In the dealings they are esteemed as very honest and exemplary. The mills are a great accommodation to this part of the country, and to this they have added carding machines. Indigo and cotton to the extent of a few acres are cultivated. Neat cattle are numerous. Their flock of sheep consists of some hundreds." See, also, Philip Mason, Autobiography, p. 108.
12 Indianapolis Star, Dec. 3, 1916; David Thomas, Travels Through the Western Country in 1816, p. 147, seq.
975
RISE OF THE CITIES
law for the incorporation of cities and one for the in- corporation of towns. Towns having a population of 3,000 or more were permitted on their own petition to incorporate as cities. Cities were to be divided into wards, not less than five in number, from each of which were to be elected two councilmen, who, to- gether with the mayor, constituted the common coun- cil, or governing body, of the city. The other officers were a clerk, assessor, treasurer, civil engineer, street commissioner and marshall, all elected annually. The grant of power to the common council was specific but wide, perhaps a hundred duties being specified. As evidence of progress, cities were permitted to go beyond their boundaries to find sources of pure water and establish municipal water plants. Cities previously incorporated might, if desired, surrender their old charter, by vote of the council, and reincor- porate under the new law.18 A like general law was enacted for the incorporation and government of towns.14 The town government consisted of from five to seven trustees, one from each district, a clerk, assessor, treasurer and marshall, all elected annually.
From the time the new constitution went into ef- fect until 1905 there was no fixed form of town or city government. In 1857, in 1867, in 1877, in 1881, in 1895, in 1899, in 1901, in 1903 and finally in 1905 the fundamental law for the incorporation of towns and cities was rewritten. Some of the later statutes applied to a certain class of cities only, but the classi- fication, based on the census returns, was a mere convention.
The constitution of 1852 required that the incor- poration laws be general. In the seventies this re- striction was evaded by those cities and towns whose charter had been issued before 1851, whose old char-
13 Revised Statutes, Indiana, 1852, ch. XVII.
14 Revised Statutes, Indiana, 1852, ch. CVIII.
976
HISTORY OF INDIANA
ters were freely amended, presumably in response to some demand from the city itself.15
In the late seventies another plan was used by the General Assembly to avoid the constitutional re- quirement that all laws be general. March 5, 1877, a bill was signed by the governor, applying to cities having "attained a voting population of 15,000 or more as shown by the poll books of any general city or state election." This applied to Indianapolis alone. This law, designated as a supplement to that of March 14, 1867, was essentially a special charter for one city. It provided for a city government com- posed of a common council and a board of aldermen. Each councilor was to represent a ward containing not less than 600 voters nor more than 1,000, two ald- ermen each to represent one of the five districts into which the city was to be divided. This was an at- tempt to make the city government honest, by mak- ing it more difficult for the officers to be dishonest.16
15 See Laws of Indiana, 1873, ch. XLV, for Evansville; or ch. LVII for the town of Huntington. There were eight charters so amended in 1873.
16 Indianapolis Journal, March 6, 1877: "By reducing the size of the wards, it will diminish the opportunities for fraud in elections. As no ward can contain more than 1,000 voters, the opportunities for fraud will be materially reduced and any excess over the legal limitation of votes would be prima facie evidence of fraud. * * The result of this arrangement will undoubt- edly be to secure greater care and deliberation in legislation than the city has heretofore enjoyed, greater difficulty in the passage of unnecessary, extravagant or corrupt measures, and In general to secure a better class of legislation. It will also operate against the jobbing and log-rolling methods by which so many measures are now passed, in which councilmen swap votes to secure the passage of pet schemes for particular wards. As each aldermanic district will be composed of three or more wards, the aldermen can afford to take a larger view of questions and to act more strictly for the general welfare than councilmen are in the habit of dolng." p. 4.
977
RISE OF THE CITIES
This miniature congress in joint session was given power to elect all other city officers. Four years later the law was re-enacted in order to extend the terms of office of the councilmen to 1884 and make their term two years instead of one thereafter ; like- wise the terms of the aldermen were extended to 1884 and made three years thereafter.17
A law of February 21, 1885, changed the charter of Indianapolis, referring to it as "all cities contain- ing a population of over 70,000." The Metropolitan police law of March 7, 1889, was drawn to apply to "all cities of 29,000 or more inhabitants." The law of March 11, 1889, conferring power to found libra- ries, applied to cities with 30,000 inhabitants. The Metropolitan police law of March 4, 1891, applied to cities of 29,000 or more. An elaborate, new charter for Indianapolis, March 6, 1891, applied to cities with a population of over 100,000. A law of March 10, 1891, gave to all cities between 50,000 and 100,000 population boards of public works. February 22, 1893, a charter was enacted for Indianapolis alone referring to it as "all cities over 100,000." March 3, of the same year, a special charter for Evansville referred to it as "all cities having more than 50,000 and less than 100,000." March 3, 1899, a general in- corporation law was made to apply to all cities of more than 23,000 population and less than 35,000. The Metropolitan police law of February 23, 1901, applied to all cities whose population was between 10,000 and 35,000. This awkward and sometimes vicious practice was used more and more frequently until 1905, at times honestly, at times as a subterfuge to hide partisan politics.
17 Laws of Indiana, 1881, ch. X. This is an early example of the vicious practice of extending terms of office for partisan advantage.
978
HISTORY OF INDIANA
In the field of city government the most difficult problem for the General Assembly has been the amount of power, independent of the statutes, the city should possess. As noted above, under the old constitution the General Assembly was virtually the common council for every town. As a result the member or members representing the district in which the town was situated became, for the time, the arbiter of the town government. One by one powers and duties were delegated to individual cities by name until in the aggregate a considerable field for city legislation had been determined. This ag- gregate of powers, still superficially enumerated, was extended under the new constitution to all cities and towns alike. As a result, under the laws of 1852 and 1857, cities of 3,000 were saddled with the same elaborate government as Indianapolis. How the General Assembly tried to avoid this has been shown.
But as cities grew and inventions multiplied, city society became more complex and demanded more political powers. June 1, 1861, all incorporated towns and cities were authorized to construct and use city prisons. March 6, 1865, cities and towns were per- mitted to grant free use of their streets and alleys to railroads. April 24, 1869, they were empowered to establish and own "wharves, docks, piers and basins." March 9, 1875, they were further permitted to borrow money and employ the laborers. March 9, 1875, they were given power "to secure the removal of slops, garbage, the carcasses of dead animals and other waste materials from their corporate limits." March 17, 1875, a long statute dealt with the whole subject of street improvement in cities, giving the city full power over the subject. March 2, 1877, In- dianapolis was given the right to make a donation of $500,000 to the Union Railroad Transfer and Stock Yards company. March 25, 1879, cities and towns
979
RISE OF THE CITIES
were authorized to issue and sell bonds for the pur- pose of constructing, maintaining and operating city water companies. March 3, 1883, they were given power to contract with electric lighting companies to light the streets and houses. March 5, 1891, they were authorized to buy real estate, "locate, lay out or improve public parks and grounds." March 6, 1891, the power to construct sewer systems was granted. March 9, 1891, all cities having paid fire departments were authorized to create a firemen's pension fund. March 10, 1891, cities between 50,000 and 100,000 population were authorized to elect a board of public works. March 9, 1895, the General Assembly organized all these separate grants into a single statute of fifty-one sections, each setting out a specific power or duty of the common council.
The experience of the preceding century in city government was used in constructing the Municipal Corporations law of March 6, 1905, which with minor modifications is still in force.
Experience had shown conclusively that cities varying in size from 3,000 population to a quarter of a million could not be governed economically under one general law or charter. Commission govern- ments, city home rule, and various other forms were advocated but most of these solutions were barred by the state constitution. The General Assembly was compelled to fall back on the old method of making arbitrary divisions on the basis of population. For this reason the cities of the state were divided on the basis of population into five classes : First, those of 100,000 population or above; second, those between 45,000 and 100,000; third, those between 20,000 and 45,000; fourth, those between 10,000 and 20,000; fifth, those below 10,000.18
18 The following table will be useful in studying this question :
980
HISTORY OF INDIANA
The officers of a town were to be from three to seven trustees (one from each ward), elected on a general ticket, a clerk and a treasurer. The marshal is appointed by the board and generally acts as street commissioner. The powers of the board, specified in twenty-one paragraphs, cover a wide field. The judi- cial officers of the towns are the ordinary township justices of the peace.
Towns may organize as cities upon a favorable vote of two-thirds of the voters at a public election held for that purpose. The legislative authority of all cities is vested in the common council with powers specified in fifty-three paragraphs. The council is composed of one representative from each of the
CITIES
POPULATION
1850
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
Alexandria
....
287
488
715
7,221
5,096
Anderson
383
2,587
3,126
4,126
10,741
20,178
22,476
Bedford
962
Bloomington
1,305
2,419
1,032
2,756
4,018
6,460
8,838
Brazil
2,186
3,441
5,905
7,786
9,340
Columbus
1,008
1,840
3,359
4,813
6,719
8,130
8,813
Connersville
1,396
2,119
2,496
3,228
4,548
6,836
7,738
Crawfordsville
.1,513
1,922
3,701
5,251
6,089
6,649
9,371
E. Chicago
..
....
....
1,255
3,411
19,098
Elkhart
1,035
1,439
3,265
6,953
11,360
15,184
19,282
Elwood
....
310
751
2,284
12,950
11,028
Evansville
3,235 11,484 21,830 29,280
50,756
59,007
60,647
Fort Wayne
4,282 10,388 17,718 26,880
35,393
45,115
63,933
Frankfort
582
773
1,300
2,803
5,919
7,100
8,634
*Gary
....
....
16,802
Goshen
780
2,053
4,123
3,133
6,033
7,810
8,514
Greensburg
....
....
3,138
3,596
5,034
5,420
Hammond
5,428
12,376
20,925
Hartford City
250
618
878
1,470
2,287
5,912
6,187
Huntington
594
1,664
7,328
9,491
10,272
Indianapolis
.8,091 18,611 48,244 75,056 105,436 169,164 233,650
Jeffersonville
... 2,122
4,020 7,254 9,357 10,666 10,774 10,412
Kokomo
1,040 2,177 4,042
8,261 10,609 17,010
2,198
3,351
6,115
8,716
. . .
*Incorporated 1906.
981
RISE OF THE CITIES
three or more wards and half as many councilmen at large (not counting fractions) as there are from the wards, provided that of the latter there be not more than six nor less than two. Besides the councilmen there are a mayor, city judge, clerk, and treasurer elected by a voters for a term of four years. The executive department is divided into finance, law, public works, public safety, assessment and collec- tion, and health and charities. The first two depart- ments are under the controller and corporation coun- sel respectively, appointed by the mayor. Public works, public safety, and health and charities are ad- ministered by boards of three each, appointed by the mayor. The department of assessment and collec- tion is under the supervision of the city treasurer. The city judiciary consists of a city court which in
CITIES
POPULATION
1850
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
Lafayette
.6,129
9,387 13,506 14,860
16,243
18,116
20,081
Laporte
1,824
5,028
6,581
6,195
7,126
7,113
10,525
Logansport
3,500
2,979
8,950
11,198
13,328
16,204
19,050
Madison
.8,012
8,130 10,709
8,945
8,936
7,835
6,934
Marion
703
...
1,658
3,182
8,769
17,337
19,359
Michigan City ..
. 999
3,320
3,985
7,366
10,776
14,850
19,027
Mishawaka
.1,412
1,488
2,617
2,610
3,371
5,560
11,886
Mt. Vernon
.1,120
1,994
2,880
3,730
4,705
5,132
5,563
Muncie
666
1,782
2,992
5,219
11,345
20,942
24,005
New Albany
9,895 12,647 15,396 16,423
21,059
20,628
20,629
Peru
1,266
2,506
3,617
5,280
7,028
8,463
10,910
Princeton
806
1,397
1,847
2,566
3,076
6,041
6,448
Richmond
1,443
6,603
9,445 12,742
16,608
18,226
22,324
Seymour
966
2,372 4,250
5,337
6,445
6,305
Shelbyville
995
1,960
2,731 3,745
5,451
7,169
9,500
South Bend.
.1,652
3,832
7,206 13,280
21,819
35,999
53,684
Terre Haute
.4,051
8,594 16,103 26,042
30,217
36,673
58,157
Valparaiso
522
1,698
2,765
4,461
5,090
6,280
6,987
Vincennes
.2,070
3,960
5,440
7,680
8,853
10,249
14,895
Wabash
966
1,520
....
....
5,105
8,618
8,687
Washington
..
3,183
2,901
4,323
6,064
8,551
7,854
982
HISTORY OF INDIANA
cities of the fifth class is presided over by the mayor.19 There is considerable dissatisfaction with the present law but not enough, it seems, to cause any radical change under the present constitution. The source of the dissatisfaction lies in the lax enforce- ment of the laws, and in the administration of city finances. This discontent has been increased by the recent disclosures of corruption in Terre Haute, In- dianapolis, Muncie, Evansville and elsewhere. Vic- ious politics is always found associated with the corrupt government.20
§ 177 DEVELOPMENT
The cities and towns of Indiana before the Civil war were little more than thickly populated neigh- borhoods. Nearly all the houses were one or two story, frame or brick. The largest city contained 16,611 and only three others contained over 10,000 population each. The inhabitants found occupation in the few factories and stores and on neighboring farms. The streets then and for twenty years after were county roads worked by the road hands. There might have been a few miles of macadamized pike in Madison, New Albany and Indianapolis, but most of this had been built as a part of the Michigan road, National road, or Vincennes turnpike.21 There were
19 Laws of Indiana, 1905, ch. CXXIX.
20 "It is probably safe to say that there is not conducted in this state a city election without some sort of fraud, the buying of votes, the introduction of floaters or repeaters, or the falsifi- cation of the returns in some manner or other. Witness the facts established in 1915, relative to Terre Haute, Indianapolis, Muncie and Evansville. The situation is not peculiar to Indiana, but is a national evil."-Streightoff, Indiana, 128. This is, of course, an exaggeration, but there is room for improvement.
21 The Indiana Gazetteer of 1849, under the description of New Albany, says its streets were macadamized and sidewalks paved. No mention is made of any other street improvements.
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