USA > Indiana > LaPorte County > Michigan City > History of Michigan City, Indiana > Part 16
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In 1887, the Michigan City Natural Gas and Oil Company was chartered. The city street electric lighting is now done under contract by the Michigan City Gas and Electric Co., owned by the Geist syndicate.
124
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN CITY
TABLE OF CITY OFFICERS.
Under the original charter the chief officers of Michigan City were those named in the table below, the mayors and recorders being elected at the dates given and the treasurers being appointed by the council at the meeting next succeeding the election.
ELECTIONS
MAYORS
RECORDERS
TREASURERS
April 12, 1836.
Willys Peck.
Caleb B. Fisk.
Francis C. Good.
April 11, 1837,
Samuel Miller.
William W. Higgins.
Fisher Ames.
April 10, 1838.
Jonathan Burr.
William W. Higgins.
Fisher Ames.
April 9,1839.
T. B. W. Stockton.
Chas. K. Averill.
Fisher Ames.
April 14, 1840.
John Francis.
Wm. H. Goodhue.
Fisher Ames.
April 6, 1841.
John Francis.
Joseph W. Chapman.
James Anton.
April 5,1842.
John Francis.
James M. Stuart.
John Holliday.
April 4, 1843.
Samuel Mower.
Nathaniel P. Hopkins.| John Holliday.
Abel D. Porter.
April 2, 1844.
John Francis.
Abel D. Porter.
April 1, 1845.
John Francis.
Wm. W. Higgins.
Abel D. Porter.
April 7, 1846.
John Francis.
John Holliday.
Abel D. Porter.
(Resigned Nov. 13.)
Herman Lawson.
April 6, 1847. April 4, 1848.
John Francis.
I. Bigelow.
Augustus Barber. Augustus Barber.
(Resigned Oct. 10.)
Ezekiel Folsom.
(Special Election.)
George Ames.
M. B. Miller.
John Francis. (June 1, vacancy declared.)
Augustus Barber.
(Dec. 11, he died.)
April 2, 1850.
John Francis.
I. S. Bigelow.
John Holliday.
April 1,1851.
John Francis.
I. S. Bigelow.
John Holliday.
April 6,1852.
Charles Palmer.
I. S. Bigelow.
Abel D. Porter.
April 5,1853.
Charles Palmer.
Miles B. Miller.
Abel D. Porter. TJ. C. Follet.
April 2,1855.
H. J. Rees.
I. S. Bigelow.
U. C. Follet.
April 1,1956.
H. J. Rees.
I. S. Bigelow.
TJ. C. Follet.
April
7,1857.
Charles Palmer.
Wm. Woodridge.
U. C. Follet.
April
6,1858.
Charles Palmer.
Wm. Woodridge.
U. C. Follet.
April 4,1854.
Herman Lawson.
Miles B. Miller.
I. S. Bigelow.
April 3,1849.
John Francis.
(By Special Election.) Jacob S. Carter.
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN CITY
Under the new law enacted in 1859, with its amendments, the city officers have been as shown below:
ELECTIONS
MAYORS
CLERKS
TREASURERS
May 3, 1859. May 7, 1861.
William W. Higgins. Charles S. Winship.
Herbert Williams. William Blinks.
U. C. Follet. J. E. Haddock. (Resigned Aug. 14.)
Alson Bailey.
(Appointed.)
May 5, 1863.
Henry H. Roberts.
William Blinks.
Alson Bailey.
May 2, 1865.
H. H. Walker.
George Paxton.
D. J. Baldwin.
May 7, 1867.
H. H. Walker.
George Paxton.
J. E. Haddock.
May 4, 1869.
H. H. Walker.
Edward J. Church.
C. G. A. Voight.
May 2, 1871.
H. H. Walker.
Edward J. Church.
Leonard Woods.
May 6, 1873.
W. W. Higgins.
Edward J. Church.
Leonard Woods.
May 4, 1875.
Wm. B. Hutchinson.
Leonard Woods.
May 1, 1877.
Wm. B. Hutchinson.
Darwin T. Brown.
Leonard Woods.
May 6, 1879.
John H. Barker.
Martin T. Krueger.
Leonard Woods.
May 3, 1881.
Harvey R. Harris.
Martin T. Krueger.
Frederick Schauffele.
May 1, 1883.
Harvey R. Harris.
Martin T. Krueger.
Frederick Schauffele.
May 5, 1885.
Walter Vail.
Wm. Ohming, Jr.
Frederick Schauffele.
May 3, 1887.
Wm. F. Woodson.
Henry A. Schwager.
Frederick Schauffele.
May 7, 1889.
Martin T. Krueger.
Geo. J. Staiger, Jr.
Frederick Schauffele.
May 5, 1891.
Martin T. Krueger.
Wm. Ohming, Jr.
Frederick Schauffele.
May 1, 1894.
Gerritt S. VanDeusen.
Albert H. Leist.
Frederick Schauffele.
(Resigned Mar. 14.)
L. R. Krueger. ( Appointed.)
May 3, 1898. May 6, 1902.
M. T. Krueger.
Edward J. Heise.
Charles H. Miller.
M. T. Krueger.
Edward J. Heise.
Charles H. Miller. (Resigned Nov. 17, 1902.)
C. Elijah Meyer. (Appointed Dec. 1.)
May 3, 1904. Nov. 7, 1906.
John E. Shultz. Fred C. Miller.
Edward J. Heise. Edward J. Heise.
C. E. Meyer.
Fred W. Schultz. (Never qualified.)
C. E. Mever. (Continued in office.)
125
(Resigned; special elec- tion Oct. 24, 1874.) Jerome Burbanks. Samuel M. Eddy.
CHAPTER XII.
The Railroads.
Statesmen, diplomats, historians and scientists agree that the most important element which lies at the root and be- ginning of a nation's progress, and that which is indeed the greatest part of the foundation of a country's civilization, is a system of good roads. Without this the national resources and energies re- main to a degree unawakened and use- less. Roads are the veins and arteries by means of which the circulation of the social body is carried on. Where they are clogged the march of civilization is retarded.
The United States offers a fascinating field for the study of this development, because within our confines can be seen the two phases of railroad expansion. In Europe settlement and civilization were facts years before the advent of steam transportation, and railroads had to be built in areas long and permanently inhabited by man. East of the Alleghen- ies, the same condition to a certain ex- tent existed. In Australia and west of our Rocky mountains, where wild In- dians and buffalo still roamed even after the steam engine sped across the plains, civilization was dragged, as it were, be- hind the chariot of the iron horse. But in Indiana, in her early days of statehood, we find a contemporary advance; the pioneers of civilization had just blazed their way westward to the shores of Lake Michigan over a forest trail, but before their cottages were built, their whole scheme of living was changed by those who came immediately after them on the railroad.
In 1826 the city of Baltimore began to
lose business on account of the construc- tion of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, and, in determining to offset this com- mercial disadvantage by something that could be turned into an asset, the ener- getic citizens decided to build that chi- merical and untried thing, a railroad. Thus the Baltimore and Ohio railroad was the first to be chartered and con- structed. The corner stone was laid and the first spike driven, July 4, 1828; the first division was opened for traffic on May 22, 1830; in July, 1835, the first direct rail communication was completed to Washington, and January 1, 1853, there was held a grand celebration in Wheeling, West Virginia, on the Ohio river, at the arrival of the first train over the mountains, which had come 379 miles from Baltimore in 19 hours.
What a furore in construction had at- tacked the rest of the nation as well ! The present New York Central had para !- leled the Baltimore and Ohio, reaching Lake Erie in 18 hours. The Michigan Central, as it is now known, ran its first train from Detroit to the city of Ypsi- lanti (then called Godfrey's) February 5, 1838 ; in October 1839 it reached Ann Arbor; in 1844 to Jackson and in 1846 to Marshall. In May, 1849, it landed passengers in New Buffalo, whence they were conveyed across the lake to Chi- cago. Then the journey could be made from New York to Chicago in two and one half days-which the local papers of that date asserted, in quaint slang, was "going some"!
In 1847 the Illinois Central railroad had begun to run trains within that state,
127
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN CITY
but they did not reach Chicago till 1848. The first train to arrive in Chicago from the east was over the tracks of the Mich- igan Southern and Northern Indiana, now the Lake Shore, railroad, on Feb- ruary 29, 1852, and on May 21, 1852, the present Michigan Central landed its first train there.
But an immense gap in the history of transportation is to be filled before this date, which marks a new epoch in the life of Michigan City, can be discussed.
Before the railroads, came the canals, and it is a curious freak in material de-
ommended Washington's idea derived from Joliet of a ship canal-the Illinois and Michigan-to connect the great lakes with the Mississippi. Work was begun later, and Chicago was to be the commercial terminus at the north. Many plans have been devised to connect Lake Erie with Lake Michigan, through the state of Michigan, but the state of Indi- ana had independent propositions which were intended to preserve for the benefit of her citizens the advantages to be de- rived from such an enterprise. Before 1833 there was a movement to build a
THE HERMITAGE
velopment that today (1907) canals threaten to regain that supremacy wrest- ed from them by the railroads seventy years ago. In the East, canals like the Chesapeake and Ohio had seemed to solve the problem of rapid and cheap transit, but, as the city of Baltimore found out, the steam horse was more available. In the West, at the same time that canals were so popular elsewhere, there seemed every reason to hope that easier communication could be establish :- ed by improving natural water-ways, or by building new ones. In 1814 President Madison in a message to Congress rec-
canal from Lake Michigan to the Ohio river, and later a Wabash and Erie canal was projected so as to have a branch running to Lake Michigan at Michigan City. Then there was the famous Erie and Michigan canal, the construction on which was begun, and up to 1844 the amount expended on it had risen to $155,429.77. The auditor of the state, in his report for the year ending October 31, 1845, in adding that the amount ex- pended for the
last fiscal year had been $19.33, volunteers the re- mark that "this work has not yet yielded anything to the state." In
I28
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN CITY
1839 C. and P. Blair advertised in the Chicago American that they were Michigan City agents for the Erie canal lines. This Erie and Michigan canal was to run down Elkhart river, then in the Big St. Joseph to South Bend, down the Kankakee to Grapevine creek, up that to its source in Michigan, then six miles across to the source of Trail creek, and finally down Trail creek to Michigan City. Toledo was to be the eastern terminus, and at stated places the waters were to be stored in reservoirs, for reserve purposes and to be used to propel machinery. Some traces of the old canal may still be found in the neigh- borhood of Rome City, one of the ambi- tious towns of Northeastern Indiana, for at this place is a lake, called today the Reservoir on the map; visitors are wont to think of it as a work of nature, but in reality it is a memorial to the thwarted energy of man.
The panic of 1837 blasted the hopes of many men and many canals, and delayed the plans for many a railroad, but even before that date the dream of railroad building had fascinated individuals and their public officials. In 1832 the Wa- bash and Michigan Railroad Company was incorporated on February 2. Its in- corporators were "William C. Linton of Vigo, Israel T. Canby, Isaac C. Elston and Jonathan W. Powers of Montgom- ery, Samuel Milroy of Carrol, John Tay- lor and Thomas Benbridge of Tippe- canoe, James Blair of Vermilion, James Armstrong and William Crumpton of Fountain, Abraham P. Andrew of Dear- born, John Egbert and Charles Vail of St. Joseph, Daniel Sigler and Joseph Orr of Putnam." The line was to run from Lafayette to the mouth of Dishman or Trail creek, and was to be commenced at either end within three years after ex- tinguishment of the Indian title, and completed in twelve years from its com- mencement.
The very next day, in 1832, there was incorporated the New Albany, Salem, Indianapolis and Wabash railroad, to run from the Ohio to the Wabash, begin- ning at New Albany and touching Sa- lem, Columbus and Indianapolis. It was to be commenced within two years and to be void unless completed within ten. This road, or rather its charter, played a noticeable part in Michigan City his- tory afterward, as will be seen when the discussion of the passage across North- ern Indiana is reached, because to it had been attached the privilege of an indefinite terminal point, the incorpora- tors having been allowed to select a route for the best advantage of their road, at their discretion.
In 1834, on February 1, Joseph Orr, David Robb, John Brown, William Clark and David Harman of LaPorte county, obtained the incorporation for the Indi- ana Northwest railroad, to run from Michigan City to Vigo county.
February 6, 1835, there was incorpor- ated the Buffalo and Mississippi Rail- road company. This name will appear all through the history of the West, of Indiana, of Michigan City; and of the numerous railroads incorporated during that generation, it was one of the few that survived its paper charter. It was to run from the head of Maumee Bay to the rapids of the Illinois River in a direct line, but with authority to deflect for proper reasons. Michigan City fought for location on the line, but LaPorte had the best promises because John B. Niles, Gustavus A. Everts and Aaron Stanton of LaPorte city were among the incor- porators.
It is really a difficult task to record all the plans, practicable and impracticable, projected and chartered, during these few months of exuberant prosperity and inflated values. The country, from the Alleghenies to the Mississippi river, was in the midst of what today is called a
.
129
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN CITY
'boom,' and nothing seemed beyond the powers or purpose of these optimistic ex- pansionists of the Middle West. On February 7, 1835, the General Assembly of the State sent to Congress a memorial asking that the government sell to the state at not exceeding fifty cents per acre "a strip of land ten miles in width from Muncietown in Delaware county to Fort Wayne in Allen county, and from thence to Michigan City in LaPorte county," for the construction of a rail- road or canal on said route. The incor- poration of any railroad or canal was en- couraged, and it was comparatively easy to obtain from the legislature a charter to construct something, so long as that body believed that the incorporators were in earnest. Thus, on February 7, 1835, the Frankfort, Delphi and Michigan Railroad and Turnpike was incorporated. Immediately afterward, on the same day, there was incorporated the Michigan City and Kankakee railroad, to build a railroad or canal from navigable waters of the Kankakee river to Michigan City. The incorporators were David Sprague, Wmn. Teall, Jacob Bigelow, Joshua Ho- bart and David Burr, all of Michigan City. Peck's Guide for Emigrants, for 1835, mentions as projected improve- ments (in the West) the railroad from Toledo to Michigan City, a canal froni Maumee Bay to Lake Michigan, and a railroad from Lafayette to Michigan City. The essence of these ambitious enterprises is expressed in an act of the legislature passed January 27, 1836, pro- viding for a general system of internal improvements. The state, as an organic institution, was willing to foster any- thing intended to develop the country. It stood back of the New Albany and Salem railroad, running (over its pres ent route) from New Albany to Salem ; it encouraged the plan for the Lake Erie and Michigan canal or railroad, from the Wabash and Erie canal near Fort
Wayne, via Goshen, South Bend, La- Porte to Lake Michigan at or near Mich - igan City. In fact, turnpikes, canals and railroads, all were considered by the state part of a necessary system of in- ternal improvements, and the faith of the state was, therefore, irrevocably pledged to carry them out. Bonds were issued beyond the state's ability to pay, repudiation was threatened, and the credit of Indiana was saved in 1846 by the Charles Butler whom we have seen as a visitor to Michigan City in July, 1833
In 1836, the Michigan City and Kan- kakee railroad was allowed by its charter to furnish surplus water for manufactur- ing purposes. On February 5, 1836, there was incorporated the LaPorte Ca- nal and Railroad company, to build a railroad or canal from LaPorte to Lake Michigan by the best route ; to be com - menced within five and completed within seven years, or else void. William Clark, Jerid Wilson, William Suther- land, Abram W. Harrison, James C. Howell, David B. Freeman, Robert Merryfield, John Brown (elsewhere called "General"), Abram P. Andrew, Junior, Robert S. Morrison, Jeremiah Grover, William Hawkins, all of La- Porte county, were the incorporators.
In 1837, a joint resolution, approved January 16, requested senators and rep- resentatives to endeavor to obtain a grant of land from the United States equal to five alternate sections along cach side of the line of the northern canal from Fort Wayne to Michigan City, for the pur- pose of aiding the state to complete said work. On February 4 of this year, Da- vid Sprague, Charles K. Averell, Wil !- iam Teale and William E. Moore of Michigan City (et al.). incorporated the Indianapolis and Michigan City railroad. Two days later, Alonzo W. Enos, Sam- uel Miller, James M. Scott, David Sprague, Jacob Bigelow, George Ames
130
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN CITY
William Teall, Jonathan Burr, Jas. Wad- dell, Daniel Low, Joshua Hobart, Will- iam E. Moore and Thomas Tyrrell, in- corporated the Michigan City and St. Joseph railroad, to run from Michigan City to New Buffalo, and on the same date and day, the Buffalo and Mississippi railroad had its name changed to the Northern Indiana Railroad Company.
Here, if the reader has not already de- tected the objective point of all the an- bitions for rapid transit inspiring the promoters, may be plainly seen the focus toward which all plans led and around which all hopes centered. This was Michigan City, the one Indiana harbor on the great lake, and the spot through which must pass all traffic to reach the productive prairies further west. Scarce- ly a canal was projected which did not have Michigan City as a terminal ; hard- ly a railroad was drawn on the map without beginning or ending at Michi- gan City, or without aiming to establish connection with that spot. The Miclii- gan road, which, be it noticed, was not part of the state's general scheme for in- ternal improvements had no other pur- pose than to reach Michigan City; ca- nals, turnpikes and railroads headed thither, and nature herself seemed to smile on the enterprise, but man's im- petuous desire overcame his own ends, and with the panic of 1837 most of these dreams vanished.
It was not until 1842 that any activity in charter legislation was revived, but on January 18 of that year we find that the lapsed charter of the Frankfort, Delphi and Michigan Railroad company was re- stored, with the exception of that part connecting Delphi with Michigan City. On February 1I, 1843, authority was given to incorporate a railroad from Michigan City to LaPorte and eastward, by which the company was empowered to take over the constructed grade of the Buffalo and Mississippi railroad be-
tween LaPorte and Michigan City at a price to be fixed by agreement, but if this could not be secured, then the new company had the right to build an inde- pendent line.
In 1846, an act was passed on January 6, by which the Buffalo and Mississippi Railroad company received a change in its charter so that it was permitted to ar- range its route to go from LaPorte to Chicago via Michigan City. This same Buffalo and Mississippi railroad was the subject of joint resolutions approved January 19, 1846, and January 26, 1847, both of which recited commercial rea- sons for the desirability of a railroad from Toledo to Chicago via the southern bend of Lake Michigan. It added that there were military advantages also, especially in case of war with Great Britain ("which even now seems not im- probable"), and asked that the land be donated by the United States for the purpose of helping this road.
In 1848, on February 8, the Buffalo and Mississippi charter was again amended ; herein Chauncey B. Blair, An- drew L. Osborn, Abraham P. Andrew, Jr., William C. Hannah and William J. Walker were to constitute a board of commissioners to take charge of the rail- road west of (the village of ) LaPorte, to construct and operate it, as well as a branch from Michigan City to connect with the Michigan Central near New Buffalo. This was called the board of commissioners for the Western division of the Buffalo and Mississippi railroad, and had authority to borrow money of the Michigan Central, and to change from flat rail to T rail if deemed advis- able after or before the line was con- structed. They were directed to connect at Michigan City with the Michigan Cen- tral, and to haul the latter's trains to Chicago. Other roads were forbidden to compete with this line under penalty of forfeiture of their charter.
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HISTORY OF MICHIGAN CITY
In 1848, on February II, a bill became a law without the governor's signature, incorporating the Lake Michigan, Lo- gansport and Ohio River Railroad com- pany, to connect at Michigan City with the Buffalo and Mississippi.
February 15, 1848, there was incorpor- ated the Lafayette, Monticello and Mich- igan City Railroad company, to run from Lafayette to Michigan City via Monticello, Winamac and LaPorte. Among the incorporators were William A. Place and Reuben Munday of La- Porte county.
kiel Morrison were among the incorpor- ators.
All this is recorded history, and can be found in the lifeless archives of pub- lic transactions, but it would be a poor historian who put down merely what had been authorized by law, without breath- ing into it that life which the people of the time lived, and thus attempting to show the motives for the results we see, and as we know them, today.
The eagerness to build a railroad had become more than an ambition, it was now a race, in which were pitted against
ST. PAUL'S PAROCHIAL SCHOOL
In 1849, on Jan. 15, there was pass- ed an amendment to the act of February II, 1843; the amendment authorized a railroad to be built in LaPorte county, provided the road shall be merged in the Buffalo and Mississippi when the latter reached LaPorte. On January 17, the Ohio, Indiana and Lake Michigan Rail- road company was incorporated, to run from Benton, Chio, to LaPorte via Fort Wayne, (to connect with the Buffalo and Mississippi). Chauncey B. Blair, An- drew L. Osborn, Henry Lusk and Eze-
each other, on the one hand two cities on the lake, and on the other two cities in Indiana. Michigan City was a con- testant in both cases; its competitor on the Lake Michigan being Chicago, and that within the state being LaPorte. The citizens of Chicago had long ago grasp- ed the value of a steam road and had foreseen the advantage of that means of transportation over the once popular ca- nal ; they encouraged the entrance of the Illinois Central into the city, yet a north and south road was not, they saw, the
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HISTORY OF MICHIGAN CITY
surest method of attracting migration thither ; but by obtaining the Illinois Cen- tral which promised to give outlet to- ward the Mississippi, they, for the time being at least, blocked the reward that would have attended the Buffalo and Mississippi, had that road been con- structed, as had originally been the in- tention, from Toledo or from some other eastern point, directly through Indiana southwest toward St. Louis on the Miss- issippi, thus leaving Chicago an insig- nificant station off the main line of traf- fic. When once this Illinois Central rail- road became an actual fact there re- mained only the gap between New Buf- falo and Chicago to be filled, and then Chicago would lie on the main traveled road from the east to the west and the vast Mississippi region beyond.
In this first contest Michigan City lost. Her citizens had been misled by the promises of the government to build the harbor, but more attention had in this respect been given to the port of Chica- go, with the result that financiers and men with money to invest became more attracted toward the Illinois city, than toward that in Indiana. This contest was decided in favor of Chicago, which, from 1837 on, was recognized as the fu- ture center for the commerce of the lakes and the Mississippi valley.
But the second, and more local con- test, fought out in the months between 1848 and 1852, was for the privilege of securing the importance that would at- tach to that city which should be the principal Indiana station for this through east and west commerce.
It has already been noticed that the Michigan Central railroad had reached New Buffalo in May, 1849: but the Michigan Southern railroad had not been idle, and on January 8, 1852, La- Porte was reached by the first train over that route from South Bend. The earlier plans to push directly toward the south-
west had been abandoned, but there was still the desire to reach Chicago, and to satisfy this desire there were several un- used but unexpired charters; the two competitors, the Michigan Southern through LaPorte and the Michigan Cen- tral through New Buffalo which could mean nothing else than through Michi- gan City, entered in 1850 into a struggle in which brains were pitted against brains, and subtlety of argument exactly balanced craftiness in politics. By all legal and natural rights, the route of travel should be through Michigan City both from New Buffalo and from La- Porte, because Michigan City, being the only Indiana port on Lake Michigan, would thus conserve at one point the north and south traffic, with that crossing it from east and west. But LaPorte was envious of the growing importance of her neighbor and was willing to shut her eyes if, even by a process not quite with- in authority, a road could be built from her border direct into Chicago without passing through Michigan City.
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